Congress demands suspension of SIR as protests against Election Commission continue

UPDATE - follow-up to Anti-CEC protest LIVE | Congress says nothing can save CEC, demands SIR be suspended forthwith as EC agrees to share 'readable' voter rolls: The Congress party has said that the Election Commission's decision to share readable electoral rolls with political parties is a direct result of nationwide protests, while maintaining its demand that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar must go and the Special Intensive Revision be suspended immediately.

Protests And Political Actions

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh stated that the poll panel's October 15, 2026, order to provide readable voter lists came because the country is protesting against vote removal. The party has appointed 208 observers for its nationwide Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao campaign against the revision process. Meanwhile, the National Students' Union of India held a march to Jantar Namtar led by national president Vinod Jakhar, and farmers under the Samyukt Kisan Morcha plan to march to Delhi on October 23.

Legal And Official Developments

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a plea by academician Apoorvanand Jha challenging the use of preventive detentions during protests, represented by senior advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan and advocate Akriti Chaubey. In Delhi, about 26 lakh out of 33.12 lakh cases of logical discrepancy or no-mapping have been resolved during the ongoing revision. Former Srikakulam District Congress Committee president Pedada Parameswara Rao stated that thousands of migrant workers lost their voting rights despite family addresses remaining in Srikakulam.

Context

The Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls has triggered widespread political disagreement and public demonstrations across multiple states. Voter list revisions are routine administrative exercises conducted by election authorities to update voter databases before upcoming elections.