KARNATAKA CONGRESS PROTESTS OVER SIR, DEMANDS CEC GYANESH KUMAR’S RESIGNATION

September 26, 2026

BENGALURU: Karnataka Congress leaders and workers staged a protest at Freedom Park on Saturday against the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, demanding the resignation and arrest of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, state Congress president B.K. Hariprasad, former chief ministers Siddaramaiah and Veerappa Moily, and several ministers and legislators participated in the demonstration.

Congress leaders alleged that Kumar had taken decisions concerning SIR without the concurrence of the other two Election Commissioners despite their reported objections. The party cited an Indian Express investigation which reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections on at least 14 occasions over a 10-month period concerning electoral-roll procedures, including changes to Form 6 and control of the electoral-roll database.

Hariprasad alleged that large numbers of voters had been removed from electoral rolls in Bihar, West Bengal and Karnataka and called for an independent inquiry into the decisions. The Congress has also announced plans for further demonstrations across Karnataka. These claims about voter deletions and the conduct of the SIR exercise are allegations by the party and are not established findings.

The Election Commission has rejected suggestions that reported differences among the commissioners undermine its functioning. It has said that differing views, observations and administrative suggestions are normal within a multi-member constitutional body and maintained that its orders and decisions have full legal sanction and were issued in accordance with statutory procedures.