Key Points
- Supreme Court seeks responses from government and election officials over disputed decisions
- Protests have spread across New Delhi and Mumbai, with demonstrators demanding Kumar’s resignation
- Election Commission rejects allegations, saying voter-roll revisions are intended to remove ineligible entries
ISLAMABAD: India’s Supreme Court on Monday sought responses from the government and the country’s Election Commission over disputed decisions to revise voter rolls, intensifying a political dispute that has triggered protests and demands for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant issued notices to the government, the Election Commission of India (ECI), Kumar and other officials after hearing petitions challenging decisions taken during the voter-list revision.
The court declined to suspend Kumar immediately but sought official records and explanations before deciding how to proceed.
The petitions alleged that important decisions were taken without the required participation of the other two election commissioners. The petitioner seeks an investigation into the Election Commission’s functioning and procedures.
The Supreme Court said it could not determine the validity of newspaper reports without hearing from the authorities. The court remarked that if official records showed decisions were not taken according to the law, corrective action could follow.
Voter roll revision at centre of court case
The controversy centres on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, an exercise aimed at checking voter lists and identifying duplicate, deceased or otherwise ineligible entries.
The Election Commission says the process was necessary to protect the integrity of the election process, including by preventing people who are not legally entitled to vote from being registered.
Opposition parties and civil society groups, however, say the exercise has created a risk of legitimate voters being excluded, particularly people from poorer and marginalised communities who may lack the capacity to produce the required documentation.
The dispute gained momentum after an Indian media report saying Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi formally raised objections on at least 14 occasions between November 2025 and September 2026 over decisions and procedures within the commission.
The issues included voter-roll access, changes to the Form 6 used for new voter registration and technical problems affecting voter registration.
Protests Demand Kumar’s resignation
The dispute has moved beyond the courts and into the streets. Demonstrations demanding Kumar’s resignation began in New Delhi and Mumbai on October 2 and continued through the weekend.
READ ALSO: Indians Continue Protests Demanding Election Chief’s Resignation
Opposition parties, student groups and youth activists have accused the election commission of compromising the credibility of the electoral process.
Police detained protesters in New Delhi as they attempted to gather near Jantar Mantar, a designated protest area.
The protests expanded on Sunday, when thousands gathered in Mumbai in a march led by opposition politicians Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray. The demonstration called for Kumar’s resignation and cancellation of the voter-roll revision in Maharashtra.
The opposition campaign is also expected to intensify. Congress has announced further demonstrations in New Delhi, while opposition groups have called for nationwide rallies, under the banner of saving democracy.
A youth-led group known as the Cockroach Janta Party has also joined the campaign. The movement emerged from earlier youth protests over unemployment and examination-related controversies and has now made electoral reform and Kumar’s resignation central demands.
Political fight over electoral integrity
The controversy has become part of a wider political confrontation between Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and opposition parties over the credibility of India’s electoral system.
The dispute is particularly sensitive because the Election Commission is constitutionally responsible for conducting India’s elections and maintaining electoral rolls. Questions about whether its decisions are transparent and independent therefore carry implications beyond the immediate voter-list controversy.
