Key Takeaways
- A newspaper investigation alleges misconduct by India’s election commission during voter-roll revisions.
- Protests demanding the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner have grown in scale.
- Critics claim the revisions disproportionately affect marginalized and minority communities.
India’s election commission is facing mounting pressure after a newspaper investigation alleged misconduct during a nationwide voter-roll revision. The Indian Express reported that key decisions linked to the revision exercise, which has seen millions of names removed from draft voter rolls, were likely taken without the approval of two of the three election commissioners.
The Election Commission of India (ECI), a constitutional body, has rejected the allegations, stating that all its decisions were unanimous and legally valid. However, opposition parties argue that legitimate voters are being struck off to benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party.
Protests demanding that commission chief Gyanesh Kumar step down have grown since the report. A demonstration in the capital, New Delhi, on Saturday is expected to draw large crowds. The allegations are a fresh challenge for 76-year-old Modi, who is in his third term in office.
The controversy centers around the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter lists, which began in 2025. The Indian Express reported that two of the ECI’s three commissioners formally lodged objections more than a dozen times in the last 10 months over key SIR decisions. Decisions by the three-member poll body should be taken by consensus or a majority.
The poll body says the exercise identifies fraudulently registered voters and aims to prevent ‘foreign illegal immigrants’ from casting ballots. Critics, however, say the drive has disproportionately affected marginalized and minority communities. Members of Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have long alleged that large numbers of undocumented Muslim migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh have fraudulently entered India’s electoral rolls.
According to election commission data cited by Indian media, more than 133 million names have been excluded from draft rolls. That’s roughly the population of Mexico and, in the world’s most populous nation, adds up to about 15 per cent of the electorate. The exclusions include duplicate entries and people found to have died. The final count of excluded voters, however, will only be clear after claims and objections are processed and final rolls are published.
Supporters of India’s main opposition Congress party have joined the protests, trying to remove a police barricade during a demonstration in New Delhi on September 25, 2026. Police detained a demonstrator during a protest demanding the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in New Delhi on October 3, 2026.
The protests have seen thousands take to the streets, with the scale of the demonstrations expected to increase. The situation highlights the growing tension between the government and opposition parties over the integrity and fairness of the electoral process.
