Thousands of people gathered at Bengaluru’s Freedom Park on Thursday to protest the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, with organisers demanding that the process be cancelled and that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resign and face arrest, according to a report by Prajavani.
The demonstration was organised by a coalition of secular parties and public-interest organisations opposing the voter-list revision. A public hearing held during the protest recorded accounts from people described by organisers as being affected by the SIR process. Protesters also raised slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Gyanesh Kumar, while carrying the national flag and Kannada flags.
Copies of the Preamble to the Constitution were distributed at the gathering. Speakers alleged that the revision process could result in the removal of names from electoral rolls and described this as a threat to citizens’ voting rights. These claims were made by the organisers and speakers at the protest; the report did not provide an official response from the Election Commission in connection with the event.
Actor Prakash Raj told the gathering that the immediate demand should be the cancellation of the SIR process, in addition to seeking the Chief Election Commissioner’s resignation. He described the removal of a person’s name from the electoral roll as a direct affront to that citizen’s dignity. He also alleged that the names of tribal communities, poor people, Muslims and other minorities had been removed from voter lists.
The protest featured repeated demands concerning Form 6, which is used in the electoral process for applications related to inclusion in the voters’ list. Speakers alleged that changes connected to the form had been undertaken unilaterally. The report did not include documentary details of the alleged changes or provide figures for the number of voters affected in Bengaluru.
Another speaker, Abhijit Deepke, linked the protest to concerns about the political representation of southern India. He said the campaign was not limited to seeking the resignation of one official and argued that the revision process and future delimitation could affect the region’s representation. The crowd repeated the slogan “Gyaanu, it’s done bro” after his remarks.
The gathering also included writer Devanur Mahadeva, who arrived with his daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter after the public hearing had begun. According to Prajavani, he listened to accounts from people who said they had been affected by the SIR process but did not address the gathering and later left.
The protest places the administration of electoral rolls at the centre of a wider public dispute in Bengaluru. For residents, the immediate issue is whether their names remain on the rolls and what process is available to challenge an omission. The event concluded with the organisers continuing to demand cancellation of the SIR process and accountability from the Election Commission leadership.
