6.5 Crore Names Removed in SIR's Second Phase; Delhi Protesters Seek CEC Kumar's Exit

Protest groups in Delhi have demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar this October. The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) held a demonstration in Delhi, and the protests also target the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

On 6 October, opposition MPs sought a meeting with Kumar. The Election Commission of India said it learnt of the request through the media and offered to have a senior officer receive the MPs' memorandum. The protests centre on the SIR, and in its second phase 6.5 crore names were removed from draft rolls.

How the Special Intensive Revision Works

The Special Intensive Revision is the Election Commission of India's exercise to verify and update electoral rolls. All India Radio reports that Booth Level Officers distribute Unique Enumeration Forms to registered voters, and each form carries the voter's current details.

Voters whose names also appear on the 2003 voter list need not submit extra documents, the broadcaster reports. Once the enumeration forms are in, a draft roll is published, and citizens may submit claims and raise objections during a set window, with verification meetings running alongside.

Phase 2 covered 12 jurisdictions: nine states and three Union territories, namely Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. All India Radio puts the combined electorate there at around 51 crore.

The broadcaster's timeline gives an enumeration period to 4 December 2025, a draft roll on 9 December 2025, claims and objections until 8 January 2026, verification hearings until 31 January 2026 and a final voter list on 7 February 2026. All India Radio reports that Phase 2 was launched on 4 November 2025, while The Tribune gives 27 October 2025 as the date it commenced.

The commission says the aim is to ensure that no eligible citizen is left out of the rolls while ineligible names, including those of illegal migrants, are removed. The process involves verifying voters' place of birth.

The Removals Behind the Protests

The Tribune reports that 6.5 crore electors were removed from draft rolls in Phase 2, reducing the total in the 12 jurisdictions from 50.90 crore to 44.40 crore.

Removed names were placed in the commission's 'ASD' category, covering electors who are absent, shifted and dead/duplicate.

In Uttar Pradesh, the draft roll excluded 2.89 crore voters from 15.44 crore, an 18.70 per cent fall, leaving 12.55 crore, The Tribune reports.

Commission officials noted that form collection had been 'much less' in urban areas than in rural ones, the same report says.

Protesters say the voter-roll revision has removed millions of eligible voters, Al Jazeera reports.

The figures above cover Phase 2 only.

What the Protesters Are Asking For

A report in The Tribune, published on 12 October, lists two demands of the youth protest in Delhi: that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resign, and that the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls be rolled back.

Al Jazeera reports protests in Mumbai and New Delhi on a third consecutive day on 4 October. Raj Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray led demonstrations in Mumbai that day. Raj Thackeray said the people, not the election commission, should decide who sits in power and who sits in opposition.

Abhijeet Dipke, chief of the Gen Z-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), said in a social media post that Mumbai was 'out on the streets again for free and fair elections'.

An opposition alliance planned a march to the commission's office on 6 October to 'save democracy', Al Jazeera reports.

A viral video shared as a march against Kumar shows the 2021 farmers' protest, NewsMeter found. That protest saw tens of thousands of farmers marching, riding horses and driving tractors into Delhi on 26 January 2021 as part of a Republic Day rally, and it demanded the repeal of three farm laws.

The protests centre on the SIR, and in its second phase 6.5 crore names were removed from draft rolls.

The Opposition's Meeting Request and the Commission's Reply

The commission says the revision is designed to remove duplicate, deceased or ineligible entries and maintain electoral integrity. On Friday, 2 October, it directed officials to register eligible voters who had been inadvertently omitted, Al Jazeera reports.

Opposition MPs sought a meeting with Kumar on 6 October and asked for his resignation, Newslaundry reported in its account of the opposition's attempts to be heard by him.

In a press note, the commission said it had learnt 'through the media' that MPs wanted to meet it, and that until 4 pm that day no political party representative had sought an appointment, Newslaundry reports.

The commission reported that it offered to send a senior-most officer to receive the memorandum. Newslaundry reported that the MPs declined. The commission said its protocol required such meetings at its premises, while the delegation wanted to meet at Parliament House Annexe.

Al Jazeera reports that Kumar has not publicly responded to the resignation demands. The Election Commission and the BJP have denied the allegations that the removals benefit the BJP.

The Government's Position on the SIR

Amit Shah addressed the issue on 13 October. Open magazine reports that Shah accused Rahul Gandhi of repeatedly raising the SIR issue to explain the lack of electoral success, and said the real motive was to protect illegal immigrants and ensure they remained on electoral rolls.

Shah said that gathering 14 parties' cadre, walking a kilometre and a half and collecting a crowd of 8,000 did not make Congress 'the voice of the nation'.

On Congress's losses, Shah said SIR was not responsible for the party's defeats, and that Congress had continuously lost elections under Rahul Gandhi's leadership.