They came with the Tricolour in hand and a single question on their lips: What happens to a deleted vote? On Friday, thousands walked to the Election Commission of India (ECI) headquarters, demanding that Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar resign and that the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls be withdrawn. Delhi Police stopped them near Bangla Sahib Gurdwara and detained over 100.
The march drew farmers’ organisations, trade unions, student bodies and Left parties, with participants from Delhi, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh. It began near Gole Dak Khana, at the intersection of Kalibari Marg and Bhai Vir Singh Marg. The Delhi Coordination Committee of People against SIR, a people’s collective, called it.
Protesters carried banners reading “Scrap SIR”, “Vote Chori” and “No elections with SIR”. They shouted slogans against the chief of the poll panel. Police detained them after they tried to breach multi-layered barricades a few hundred metres from the ECI headquarters on Ashoka Road. Some protesters climbed a tree and tried to wave the national flag. Activists of the All India Students’ Association held satirical placards targeting Kumar.
After police stopped them, the protesters sat down and held a “People’s Parliament.” Visuals of students being bundled into buses while waving the Indian flag spread on social media in the evening. The protest took place under restrictions imposed under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS). Delhi Police and Rapid Action Force personnel were deployed in large numbers across central Delhi.
Senior CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat took part, along with members of AIDWA, AIDSO, the Krantikari Yuva Sangathan and the Students’ Federation of India. For many, the concern was personal. Protesters said they feared eligible citizens may be shut out of the electoral process. “They have deleted millions of votes through SIR,” said Disha of the Progressive Democratic Students Union. She said people who have lived in India for generations, especially minorities like Muslims, Dalits and Adivasis, were being denied citizenship.
Yudhvir Singh, national general secretary of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, listed the demands. SIR should be rolled back, Kumar should resign, the voter list should be rectified, and the government should apologise. CPI Rajya Sabha MP P Sandosh Kumar said the movement would be intensified in the coming days.
According to the People against SIR forum, demonstrations are planned in 88 cities across 18 states, involving 145 organisations, from Friday until November 1. Organisers said more than 300 organisations have joined the wider campaign. It seeks scrapping of SIR, restoration of voting rights to eligible citizens whose names were deleted, and the removal and prosecution of Kumar.
Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke questioned the Centre’s priorities. He alleged that security personnel were being deployed in Delhi to stop protests instead of focusing on national security concerns, including the China border. “No one should protest in Delhi, no one should ask for Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation in Delhi,” he said.
The Union Home Ministry has for the second time extended the deployment of 273 Central Armed Police Forces companies in Delhi until October 31.
Official sources cited the possibility of “flash protests” by political and other groups.