Overview
- Protesters from student groups, farmers’ unions, trade bodies and Left parties marched toward the Election Commission headquarters on October 23, and Delhi police detained large numbers as security forces blocked routes near Ashoka Road.
- Organisers under the People Against SIR banner say the Special Intensive Revision removed millions of names and are calling for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to resign, while the ECI maintains SIR is meant to remove duplicates and update rolls.
- The Punjab Assembly on October 23 passed a unanimous resolution demanding an independent probe into alleged electoral irregularities and the ECI’s conduct, increasing institutional pressure on the poll panel.
- Regional parties have lodged formal complaints about deleted names, fake voters and intimidation during recent Legislative Council and local polls, with opposition leaders citing specific booths and asking the ECI to investigate and restore voters’ names.
- Beyond street mobilisation, organisers plan sustained actions through November 1 and have held decentralized demonstrations in dozens of cities, and authorities have responded with prohibitory orders, denotification of protest sites and targeted detentions that protesters say curb the right to dissent.