Hyderabad Protest Demands Chief Election Commissioner's Resignation Over Voter Roll Deletions

More than 300 people gathered at Dharna Chowk in Hyderabad's Indira Park to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the rollback of the Special Intensive Revision process. The six-hour protest on Saturday was led by the Telangana People's Front, a newly formed pressure group that includes retired civil servants and IT professionals, alongside local members of the Cockroach Janata Party and nearly ten other social pressure groups. Participants included everyday voters whose names were allegedly deleted from electoral rolls during recent revisions. Speakers and organizers targeted the central software portal ECINet, launched this January, alleging it aids indiscriminate voter deletions by limiting the powers of local registration officers. The protest also pressed for the repeal of the CEC Act 2023, which critics argue gives the executive too much influence in election watchdog appointments. Former IAS officer and TPF co-founder M.V. Reddy stated that the CEC's office stands compromised because fellow Election Commission members reportedly questioned his decisions and demeanor regarding the electoral revision. In Telangana alone, more than 73 lakh voters have received notices under the SIR process for reasons including minor spelling errors, while nationwide figures show roughly 13 crore voters struck off draft rolls across 30 states and Union territories.

Context

The Special Intensive Revision is a periodic administrative exercise conducted by election authorities to clean up electoral databases by verifying voter lists door-to-door. Controversies surrounding mass roll revisions typically arise when automated digital tools flag and remove names due to minor clerical mismatches, administrative backlogs, or shifting addresses, prompting legal challenges and public outcry from affected citizens and civil society groups.