130 Million Indian Voters’ Rights Under Threat – India Protests Intensify Over Voter Rolls, Demand Resignation of Poll Chief

02/10/2026

Shivaji Park in Mumbai 2nd Oct 2026

NEW DELHI, Oct 2: Fresh protests erupted in India on Friday as the youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and separate student and civil-society groups demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over a controversial revision of voter rolls.

The CJP planned demonstrations in Mumbai and said it would expand its protests across the country, while student and activist groups gathered at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. Police detained some protesters in Delhi and took them away in buses, while security was tightened around the protest site and several nearby metro stations were closed.

Police repeatedly warned against gatherings of more than five people as hundreds of police and paramilitary personnel were deployed around barricaded areas.

The protests centre on allegations that the Election Commission's voter-roll revision has resulted in eligible voters being removed from electoral lists and that the process could benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Election Commission and the government have rejected allegations of wrongdoing, saying the verification exercise is intended to remove duplicate, deceased and otherwise ineligible entries.

The controversy has intensified following reports that two election commissioners raised concerns with Kumar on multiple occasions over voter-list revisions, registration procedures and the commission's digital systems. The Election Commission has said differences of opinion are normal during internal deliberations.

The dispute centres on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, which began in Bihar and has since been extended to other parts of India. Reuters reported that about 130 million people were initially left out of draft lists, although the status of individual voters and the reasons for exclusions vary.

The Election Commission has recently announced measures to address concerns, including a review of its voter-roll software and a special drive to enrol eligible voters who were left out of the electoral rolls.

The CJP, which emerged from youth protests over unemployment and examination-paper leaks, has demanded that Kumar resign and said its demonstrations will continue until he steps down. The movement previously gained national attention following protests over exam-paper leaks that contributed to the resignation of India's education minister, according to Reuters.

Separately, India's opposition parties have announced their own protests over the voter-roll controversy, with the INDIA bloc planning further demonstrations from October 6.