SIR Voter-Roll Controversy Triggers Nationwide Protests Against the Election Commission

By 6 October 2026, the Election Commission of India’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls had become the centre of a nationwide political and civil-society confrontation. The exercise, begun in Bihar in 2025 and later expanded across much of India, removed more than 13 crore names from draft rolls across 30 States and Union Territories, while an Indian Express investigation reported that two Election Commissioners had formally objected at least 14 times to aspects of the process. Opposition parties and youth groups alleged that eligible voters were being disenfranchised and demanded Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation; the Election Commission said differences within the Commission were part of normal decision-making and defended its final decisions as lawful and unanimous, while the BJP rejected allegations of political manipulation. Protests escalated from late September into early October, and on 6 October police detained opposition lawmakers including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi during a march towards the Election Commission.