New Delhi, Sep 30 (PTI) Top leaders of the INDIA bloc met here on Wednesday to finalise an action plan for a joint agitation over alleged irregularities in the SIR exercise and to press for CEC Gyanesh Kumar's resignation.Sources said the draft notice for a fresh bid to move a motion in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha for the removal of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) was ready and would be deliberated upon for approval at the meeting. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, AICC general secretaries Jairam Ramesh and K C Venugopal, the TMC's Mamata Banerjee, and leaders from parties such as the SP, CPI, CPI(M), NCP(SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT), among others, were present at the meeting. While the DMK and the AAP skipped the meeting, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav also did not attend on account of nominations for Rajya Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh.

 Speaking about the meeting, Venugopal had said on Tuesday, "The Congress wants to hold a massive agitation to save democracy in the country with the help of all political parties. There will be valuable suggestions from leaders of the INDIA bloc tomorrow; after that we will sit and formalise the clear action plan for the future agitation.""We will coordinate between the INDIA bloc agitation programme and that of the Congress," he had told reporters. The issue of alleged irregularities in the SIR is being seen by the opposition INDIA bloc as an opportunity to close ranks and corner the government.

 The meeting comes days after The Indian Express reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi objected on record at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders on the SIR (Special Intensive Revision) that they said were issued without their knowledge or recommendation. Under fire over the red flags raised by two of its commissioners over the SIR process, the EC has asserted that differing views and observations are a normal part of deliberations in any institution and all its orders carry full legal sanction and follow established statutory procedures. The last meeting of the INDIA bloc had taken place on June 8. Stressing unity against the BJP, the INDIA bloc members had unanimously decided to demand then Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation over the NEET-CBSE row and to write to the Chief Justice of India on the SIR exercise and "vote loot". 

/Agencies