SIR row: Congress holds protest across Maharashtra seeking Gyanesh Kumar’s removal

The Congress on Monday (September 28, 2026) stepped up its agitation against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, holding protest marches across Maharashtra and demanding his removal and arrest over alleged irregularities in electoral rolls and the conduct of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).

According to the Maharashtra Congress, demonstrations were held outside district collectorates across the State, including in Pune, Nagpur, Nashik, Kolhapur, Solapur, Thane, Amravati and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. Party leaders and workers submitted memoranda to district collectors seeking Mr. Kumar’s removal from office and action against him.

The protests come amid intensified Opposition criticism of the Election Commission following an Indian Express investigation which reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally raised objections at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders concerning electoral rolls that they said were taken without their knowledge or approval.

The objections concerned issues including the addition and deletion of voters, changes to Form 6, appeals involving electoral-roll decisions and control over the voter database. Some of the internal notes described particular steps as “unauthorised” or “illegal”. The ECI has said the notes were part of its normal internal decision-making process and maintained that its decisions over the period were unanimous, arguing that focusing on individual notes without considering the larger body of approvals and decisions presented only part of the picture.

The report prompted several Opposition parties to renew their attacks on Mr. Kumar and the functioning of the poll body, with Congress leaders arguing that the internal objections supported concerns they had previously raised about electoral-roll revisions. Opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Uddhav Thackeray, have subsequently sought action against Mr. Kumar, while the ECI has rejected suggestions that the reported differences showed its decisions were not collectively taken.

As part of Monday’s Maharashtra protests, Congress workers in Amravati paraded an effigy of Mr. Kumar on a donkey, while in Thane, according to the party, protesters made an effigy perform sit-ups.

The Kolhapur protest was led by Congress Legislative Council group leader and former minister Satej Patil, while Congress Working Committee member and MP Praniti Shinde participated in the agitation in Solapur. In Amravati, former minister Yashomati Thakur and MP Balwant Wankhade participated, while MP Kalyan Kale joined the protest in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.

Congress MPs Pratibha Dhanorkar, Ravindra Chavan and Shivaji Kalge participated in demonstrations in Chandrapur, Nanded and Latur, respectively, while former MP Kumar Ketkar was present at the Thane protest, the party said.

Similar demonstrations were held in Beed, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Raigad, Dharashiv, Yavatmal, Hingoli, Jalna, Parbhani, Palghar, Nandurbar, Bhandara and Akola, among other districts, according to the Congress.

The party alleged that electoral-roll revisions under Mr. Kumar had benefited the ruling BJP and claimed that the internal objections reported within the Election Commission corroborated concerns previously raised by Rahul Gandhi. The Congress also cited the deletion of more than 13 crore names from draft electoral rolls during the SIR process across 30 states and Union Territories while attacking the poll body’s handling of the exercise. The Indian Express reported that more than 13 crore names had been removed from draft rolls during the exercise; this figure by itself does not establish that those deletions were improper.

The Maharashtra Congress said it would continue its agitation until Mr. Kumar was removed and action was taken against him, and warned that it would intensify the protests in the coming days.