A protest against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls drew an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 people to Bengaluru’s Freedom Park on October 8, with organisers demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the cancellation of the revision exercise.
The ‘Janata Nyayalaya’ gathering was organised by the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) along with several other groups. CJP founder Abhijit Dipke said the protest would continue until Kumar resigned, alleging that the electoral-roll revision could affect voting rights and reduce southern India’s representation in Parliament through future delimitation.
Dipke compared the campaign against Kumar to the resignation demand directed at former Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan over allegations related to the NEET examination. He alleged that SIR had removed 13% to 14% of votes, and warned that the proposed delimitation process could reduce the political representation of southern states. These claims were made during the protest and were not independently established in the report.
Actor Prakash Raj also addressed the gathering and alleged that the voting rights of Adivasis, poor people and Muslims were being removed. He called for SIR to be cancelled and demanded a case and inquiry against Kumar. Raj said the campaign would continue until what he described as citizens’ dignity and voting rights were restored.
YouTuber Dhruv Rathee criticised the Election Commission over what he called a lack of accountability and transparency in the revision process. He claimed that 70,000 names were removed from electoral rolls in West Bengal before an election and later restored, and that 65 lakh eligible voters were removed in Bihar. He also referred to the addition of 14 lakh names in Uttar Pradesh and alleged similar developments in Goa. The report presented these figures as statements made by Rathee at the protest; it did not provide supporting documents or an Election Commission response.
The gathering included representatives and supporters of the CJP, the Aam Aadmi Party, the Students’ Federation of India, the All India Democratic Students’ Organisation and other groups. Senior writer Devanur Mahadeva, economist Parakala Prabhakar, Ayesha Ghosh, Ashutosh Ranka and CJP spokesperson Sourav Das were among those reported to have attended.
The Bengaluru protest followed similar demonstrations reported in Delhi and Mumbai, indicating that opposition to SIR has moved beyond political-party meetings into public gatherings involving civil society groups and digital influencers. At Freedom Park, participants raised slogans demanding Kumar’s resignation and the withdrawal of the revision exercise. The report did not include a response from the Election Commission or the Union government to the allegations made at the event. Protest organisers said they would continue their campaign until their demands were met.
