Oppn says 19 lakh voters missing, walks out over denial of discussion

Raipur: The Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly witnessed a heated exchange and a subsequent walkout by Opposition members on Thursday during Zero Hour. The controversy erupted over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, with the Opposition alleging that the names of over 19 lakh voters were deleted.Leader of Opposition Charan Das Mahant moved an adjournment motion to discuss the issue. He claimed that the names of 19,13,450 citizens were removed from the lists. "These citizens of the state are now 'missing' from the records. We demand a discussion on this through the adjournment motion," Dr Mahant said.The treasury benches strongly opposed the motion. BJP MLA Ajay Chandrakar argued that the matter does not fall under the category of state or public interest and should not even be part of the Assembly records. BJP MLA Dharamjeet Singh further claimed that the Opposition lacked genuine issues and was raising such matters without cause.The debate intensified when Congress MLA and former minister Umesh Patel named the ruling party in his allegations. Patel alleged that members of one party influenced the deletion of voters from other booths and insisted on a formal discussion.The Chair rejected the adjournment motion, stating that matters related to the electoral rolls fall under the jurisdiction of the Election Commission of India. Dissatisfied with the ruling, Opposition members raised slogans and walked out of the House.