‘Save Democracy’

Amid Row Over Electoral Roll Revision

Elections should be conducted using ballot papers instead of EVMs

metro india news I hyderabad

INDIA alliance on Wednesday announced a coordinated series of protests under the banner of a “Save Democracy March,” accusing the Election Commission of India (ECI) of enabling large-scale voter deletions and undermining electoral integrity through the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, addressing a press conference after a meeting of INDIA bloc leaders at the Constitution Club in New Delhi, outlined a four-point programme.

The alliance will organise district-level “Save Democracy” marches and demonstrations outside the offices of every District Magistrate from October 2 to 8. These marches aim to mobilise party workers, civil society groups and like-minded citizens while raising public awareness about alleged irregularities in the voter-list revision process. 

On October 6, all opposition Members of Parliament from both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will march to the Election Commission headquarters in the capital. Kharge noted that the bloc had initially considered an earlier date but deferred the action to ensure wider participation. “All Rajya Sabha members and Members of Parliament, irrespective of which party they belong to, and those who want to protect democracy in the country, will be invited to join this march,” he said.

In the second week of October, leaders of the opposition plan to seek an appointment with President Droupadi Murmu. They intend to submit a formal representation detailing what they describe as constitutional concerns and the difficulties arising from the functioning of key institutions, particularly the Election Commission.  

The programme will also feature five major rallies across the country in October and November, with specific dates and venues to be finalised and communicated later. One of these is expected to be held in Delhi, with reports pointing to early November as a possible timeframe for a significant gathering in the national capital. A central demand of the INDIA Alliance is that the Supreme Court should speedily resolve pending cases related to the SIR exercise.

Several petitions and appeals concerning deletions from electoral rolls remain before the court and related tribunals. In West Bengal alone, over 37 lakh appeals against exclusions were still pending as of mid-September, with only a small fraction decided so far. Opposition leaders argue that delayed adjudication risks permanent disenfranchisement of legitimate voters ahead of future elections. 

The protests come against the backdrop of sharp political confrontation over the SIR, which the ECI launched as a special intensive revision of electoral rolls beginning with a pilot in Bihar and subsequently extended nationwide in phases. According to Election Commission data analysed by various outlets, approximately 13.3 crore names have been deleted from draft voter lists across the phases completed or underway so far.

Of these, nearly 71.5 per cent (around 9.5 crore) were marked as absent, permanently shifted or removed for other reasons, while about 2.8 crore deletions were attributed to deaths and 1.01 crore to multiple enrolments. In earlier phases covering 12 states and Union Territories, the combined electorate fell from over 50.99 crore to 45.81 crore, a net reduction of more than 5 crore or about 10.2 per cent. 

Opposition parties, including Congress, Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party and others, have termed the exercise “vote chori” (vote theft), alleging that it disproportionately targets certain sections of voters and is being conducted under political influence.

Kharge accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah of treating Election Commission officials as “puppets,” claiming that “two or three individuals within the Election Commission are merely pawns.” Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, who attended the meeting, demanded the immediate resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, accusing him of involvement in electoral manipulation.

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi emphasised that democracy is bigger than any individual and stated that INDIA leaders are committed to ensuring accountability for those they hold responsible for damaging democratic institutions. “It is the personal commitment of all INDIA leaders that we are going to ensure that the people who have destroyed Indian democracy are punished,” Gandhi said.

Kharge listed several concrete demands: use of pre-SIR electoral rolls for future elections; complete transparency with constituency-wise and booth-wise data on additions, deletions and corrections; prior notice, recorded reasons and an effective appeal mechanism before any legitimate voter is removed; protection against exclusion due to administrative lapses or lack of documentation; simplified registration for first-time and young voters; greater institutional accountability of the Election Commission; and a return to ballot-paper voting instead of electronic voting machines. 

The Supreme Court had earlier upheld the constitutional validity of the SIR exercise in a May 2026 judgment concerning the Bihar pilot, holding that it fell within the Election Commission’s powers under Article 324 of the Constitution and Section 21(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950. The court found the process proportionate and aimed at ensuring accurate electoral rolls. However, subsequent implementation has generated large volumes of appeals, many of which remain unresolved, prompting the opposition’s call for expedited judicial intervention. 

The Election Commission has maintained that all major decisions on the SIR were taken unanimously and that the exercise is a necessary purification of electoral rolls to eliminate deceased, shifted and duplicate entries. It has rejected allegations of internal splits or political interference, stating that differences of opinion form part of normal internal deliberations and that its orders follow statutory procedures.  Leaders from Congress, Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress, NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar), Shiv Sena (UBT), RJD, Left parties, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and several regional outfits participated in the Delhi meeting, either in person or online. 

The INDIA bloc portrayed the programme as a united effort to defend the Constitution and the principle of “one person, one vote, one value.”  As the marches begin on October 2, coinciding with Gandhi Jayanti, the opposition seeks to build public pressure on the issue of electoral integrity ahead of upcoming state elections and the next general election cycle. The coming weeks will test both the cohesion of the INDIA alliance and the public resonance of its campaign against the SIR and the Election Commission.