Thousands of people gathered at Bengaluru’s Freedom Park on Thursday for a state-level protest and public hearing opposing the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, with organisers demanding that the process be withdrawn and calling for accountability from election authorities.
The programme, described by organisers as a ‘Janata Nyayalaya’, was convened by a coalition of secular parties and public-interest organisations opposed to the voter-list revision. Retired Supreme Court judges were scheduled to hear the problems of people who said they had been affected by the process. Writers, actors, activists, economists and digital commentators were also listed among the participants.
The event was led by the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), according to Prajavani, and included participation by YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, actor and social activist Prakash Raj, writer Devanur Mahadeva, economist Parakala Prabhakar and CJP leaders Abhijit Dipke, Sourav Das and Ashutosh Ranka. AAP members, left-wing student groups, workers and members of the public were also reported to have attended.
Speaking at the protest, Prakash Raj said the demand was not limited to the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner. “Even if another person comes in their place, there will be no benefit. Our demand is that the SIR process should be completely cancelled,” he said, according to the report.
Rathee alleged that the Election Commission had shown “zero transparency and zero accountability” in the process. Dipke told participants that the movement would continue until the Chief Election Commissioner resigned, while also calling on people to reclaim democratic institutions through peaceful public action.
The protest included songs and speeches at Freedom Park, a designated public venue in central Bengaluru that has hosted several major political and civic demonstrations. The gathering brought the voter-roll revision dispute into a highly visible urban setting, with private-school teachers and activists among those reported to have joined the proceedings.
The source also reported that Congress workers led by Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president B.K. Hariprasad held a separate large protest outside the KPCC headquarters on Friday, alleging irregularities in the SIR process and demanding the resignation of election officials. The report did not include a response from the Election Commission or clarify the specific voter-list cases that were presented before the public hearing.
Organisers said the Freedom Park programme would remain peaceful and that the coalition would continue its protest against the revision process. The next formal step reported was the hearing of affected people’s complaints by the retired judges and other members of the public panel.
