Congress Launches Nationwide Protests Demanding Chief Election Commissioner's Resignation

The Indian National Congress launched nationwide protests on September 25, 2026, demanding the immediate resignation and arrest of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The unrest follows an Indian Express report alleging that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi formally objected at least 14 times over ten months to Kumar's unilateral decisions regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Opposition leaders allege the SIR process, which removed over 130 million names from draft rolls, was designed to benefit the Bharatiya Janata Party by targeting minorities and marginalized groups.

Demonstrations occurred in cities including New Delhi, Patna, Chandigarh, Srinagar, and Guwahati, with some turning violent in Manipur and Shimla. Police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse crowds, detaining senior leaders such as Gaurav Gogoi and Syed Naseer Hussain. Simultaneously, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court of India seeking a Special Investigation Team probe into Kumar's conduct, specifically regarding the centralization of voter data via ECINet and unauthorized changes to voter forms.

Congress leaders, including Pawan Khera and KC Venugopal, characterized the SIR decisions as null and void, while others alleged a criminal conspiracy involving Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. The Election Commission of India has rejected all claims of institutional dissent, asserting that all final decisions were unanimous and followed constitutional mandates. The Bharatiya Janata Party dismissed the allegations as a smear campaign intended to divert attention from the opposition's electoral defeats.