CJP, Opposition see SIR row as biggest political opening against centre since 2014

New Delhi: The Opposition and the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which has emerged as a chief nuisance-value bloc, believe that the controversy over alleged electoral malpractice represents the biggest political opening they have had in the last 12 years to severely dent the BJP-led government at the Centre, according to sources tracking the developments.

The campaign has received a further fillip after sitting Supreme Court Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and retired Supreme Court judge Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman raised concerns over aspects of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process.

Sources following the developments said sections of the Congress leadership believe that allegations of electoral malpractice have made a sufficiently significant impact on the ground and could develop into a larger political issue. 

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However, officials tracking the situation have disputed this assessment and believe that the allegations have not made the kind of impact on the ground that the Opposition expects.

Officials tracking the developments also point to the absence of any significant, organic protests by citizens in other parts of the country over the issue. According to them, the fact that the agitation has remained largely concentrated in the national capital, where protests naturally receive greater media and political attention, suggests that the allegations being raised by the Opposition and the CJP have not found wider public resonance. There have been no comparable organic mobilisations in other major cities that would indicate that people across the country are independently taking up the issue. The assessment within sections of the government is therefore that, so far, the allegations remain largely  political and have not translated into a broader public movement on the ground.