Activists being picked up by police during a protest near K.R. circle in Bengaluru on October 12, 2026. The protesters were demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the SIR exercise.
| Photo Credit: SUDHAKARA JAIN
Karnataka Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar said he had taken note of police action against protesters and members of the media on Monday, and had sought a full report on the circumstances that led to the police action. “If there has been any unnecessary use of force or excess, accountability will follow,” he said.
This comes a day after Bengaluru police detained over a 100 persons for trying to march to the office of Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Karnataka to protest against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Police manhandled journalists and photographers, apart from protesters, on a day when Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar was participating in a protest rally against SIR in New Delhi, drawing much ire.
“The right to peaceful protest is fundamental to our democracy. We cannot demand that right for ourselves in Delhi and deny it to others in Bengaluru. Karnataka must hold itself to the democratic standards that we expect from the rest of the country. There will be no double standards,” the chief minister said in a statement issued on Tuesday (October 13, 2026).
“Let me be clear: disagreement with the Election Commission, disagreement with my government, or disagreement with me personally does not diminish anyone’s right to peacefully express it,” he added.
‘Do not disrupt peaceful protest’
Meanwhile, Home Minister Priyank Kharge also said that he had issued instructions to the police to ‘ensure that no peaceful demonstration is disrupted’.
“The right to peaceful protest is fundamental to our democracy. It must be respected, protected, and never suppressed. I have issued instructions to the police to ensure that no peaceful demonstration is disrupted,” Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge wrote on social media platform X on October 13.
“Our responsibility is not merely to maintain law and order, but to create an environment where every citizen can express dissent freely, peacefully, and without fear. In a democracy, peaceful dissent is not a threat to law and order. It is a right that law and order must protect,” he added.
Responding to Mr. Kharge’s statement, the MyVoteMyRight Campaign welcomed the Home Minister’s decision to ‘review the police handling’ and ‘commitment to uphold the right to peaceful protest’. However, the campaign also demanded that the government of Karnataka take back the The Licensing and Regulation of Protests, Demonstrations and Protest Marches (Bengaluru city) Order, 2021, that restricts all protest to Freedom Park in Bengaluru, and bring back The Licensing and Controlling of Assemblies and Public Processions (Bangalore City) Order, 2009, which did not restrict protests to any one place.
Published – October 13, 2026 12:20 pm IST
