Overview
- Protests demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation and the suspension of the SIR entered a sustained phase on Sunday, with thousands marching in Mumbai and nearly 500 people detained in Delhi during confrontations with police.
- Opposition leaders say the SIR has flagged or removed huge numbers of names from draft rolls, citing figures that include about 13 crore nationally, roughly 2 crore in Maharashtra and 38 lakh pending appeals in West Bengal, though those totals remain contested and legally unverified.
- An Indian Express report that two election commissioners formally raised objections at least 14 times over the past ten months to SIR-related decisions and ECI technology changes has fuelled the dispute, and the Election Commission says those reported objections do not amount to institutional dissent.
- Political figures have alleged restricted access to the ECINet voter database and involvement of the Department of Personnel and Training in oversight of the ECI’s IT unit, claims that opposition leaders say point to centralised control of roll management.
- The row has moved into courts and police stations with a Supreme Court hearing scheduled for October 5, an FIR filed in Mumbai for an unauthorised march, and wider demands for scrapping SIR or switching to ballot papers that could affect by‑elections and public trust in electoral administration.