SIR: to protest until Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation, says oppn

New Delhi: Opposition parties have intensified their campaign demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, with protests erupting across several states and police action against demonstrators in Delhi. Congress is set to discuss further agitation at its Working Committee meeting on Tuesday, while an INDIA bloc meeting in the capital on Wednesday is expected to coordinate the next phase of the campaign.

The confrontation escalated in Delhi on Monday when Youth Congress and NSUI workers marched towards the Election Commission headquarters. Police detained several protesters, including Indian Youth Congress president Uday Bhanu Chib and NSUI president Vinod Jakhar, after demonstrators were stopped by barricades. Similar confrontations were reported during protests in Lucknow and Gorakhpur, while opposition parties held demonstrations in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, Assam and Kashmir.

Amid the growing anger, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi visited Bela Estate along the Yamuna and highlighted alleged large-scale deletions from the electoral rolls. Gandhi said that of 728 people in the settlement, only one remained on the voter list following the SIR exercise. He said the residents had lived there for decades and had voted in both the 2024 Lok Sabha and 2025 Delhi Assembly elections.

Gandhi has held Kumar responsible for the electoral-roll controversy and demanded his resignation, while also warning that the wider system responsible for the deletions would be held accountable. The Election Commission, however, has rejected allegations of wrongdoing and maintained that the SIR-related decisions received the required institutional approval.