Delhi Congress Holds Protest Demanding CEC Gyanesh Kumar's Resignation Over SIR Row

The Delhi Congress on Friday staged a protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, demanding his resignation and an independent audit of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the city.

Several party workers gathered at the Delhi Congress office on Rouse Avenue and marched towards the BJP headquarters on Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg before proceeding to the Election Commission office at Nirvachan Sadan.

The party alleged that the SIR exercise had disproportionately affected residents of JJ clusters and unauthorised colonies in the national capital, who are facing difficulties in producing documents sought by the Election Commission within the stipulated time.

Protest Against CEC Resignation

Delhi Congress president Devender Yadav alleged that the BJP had engaged in “vote theft” in every election and demanded Kumar’s immediate resignation.

“Gyanesh Kumar must resign immediately. We are not going to let democracy be destroyed in India and sit silent, and the people responsible for this are going to be punished,” he said.

Yadav claimed that of around 1.45 crore voters in Delhi, names of 47.6 lakh people had been deleted and notices had been issued to 31.6 lakh voters to address discrepancies.

The party workers also alleged that officials had visited the residences of some prominent people, including Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, to resolve discrepancies, while ordinary voters were required to complete the process themselves.

He said discrepancies such as differences in the age of parents, spelling errors and variations in addresses could be the result of errors in computer-generated data and should be corrected without causing hardship to voters.

“In the SIR process, in which there should have been complete transparency, non-discrimination, one India, one law and equal rights method, the Election Commission has divided the country, especially Delhi, into two classes,” Yadav said.

Police and paramilitary personnel were deployed along the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg and outside the Election Commission office, with barricades set up at both locations ahead of the Delhi Congress protest.

Demand For Electoral Audit

The Congress on Thursday had directed its state units to organise protest marches to their respective state election commission offices on September 25, demanding the CEC's immediate arrest, removal from office, and an independent review of all decisions and electoral roll changes made under him.

The party decided to hold protests after The Indian Express revealed that questions were repeatedly raised on issues related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls within the three-member Election Commission (EC) by two of the three election commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.

The national rollout of the SIR has been under the supervision of all three commissioners. But Sandhu and Joshi have formally objected, on record, at least 14 times over the last 10 months four times on a single day to decisions taken and orders issued, they say, without their knowledge, according to the report in the English daily.