New Delhi, September 29, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
The Congress Working Committee (CWC) on Tuesday discussed alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and announced plans for nationwide protests against what the party described as malpractices by the Election Commission (EC).
Addressing a press conference after the CWC meeting, Congress General Secretary K.C. Venugopal accused Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar of acting at the Centre’s behest and demanded his immediate removal. He alleged that the process was aimed at depriving crores of voters of their democratic right to vote.
“The SIR is a complete fraud exercise. The CEC is completely compromised, the Election system is rigged, both the EVMs and the voters’ lists are compromised — designed to favour the BJP in elections,” Venugopal claimed.
He said the Congress would oppose what it called an attempt to “hijack” democracy and launch a pan-India protest after consulting its INDIA bloc partners.
“Democracy and the country are under threat under prevailing circumstances. We will fight tooth and nail and won’t let EC succeed in its designs,” Venugopal said, adding that the party had held protests at more than 800 locations over the previous two to three days.
A meeting of INDIA bloc allies is scheduled for Wednesday, where opposition parties are expected to discuss the alleged irregularities and work towards a joint protest plan, including seeking Gyanesh Kumar’s removal.
Venugopal outlined two key demands raised by the Congress: the immediate resignation of the CEC and the suspension of the SIR exercise, along with the restoration of 13.30 voters’ names that the party claimed had been illegally deleted from electoral rolls.
“We are demanding immediate resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar, as he has no moral right to continue in the chair for a single day,” he said.
“The Congress party’s other demand is immediate suspension of SIR, restoration of 13.30 voters, whose names have been illegally struck off from the voters list,” he added.
Escalating his criticism of the Centre, Venugopal said CWC members shared the view that the CEC was not acting independently but was “a tool” of his “political masters” in altering the SIR process unilaterally.
“Whenever dictators lose confidence, they try to find extraordinary tools to continue in power. This cannot happen without the concurrence of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister. The two CECs purportedly wrote to the Cabinet Secretary, and that this must have been brought to the Prime Minister’s notice,” he alleged.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, referring to remarks made by Rahul Gandhi at the CWC meeting, said the party had repeatedly raised concerns over alleged “vote chori” and manipulation of electoral rolls, but its warnings had not received adequate attention.
Ramesh said Gandhi had presented what he described as instances of electoral malpractice during the Karnataka and Haryana elections, including detailed presentations to party members.
“Rahul Gandhi told the CWC members that it was because of the Congress party that such disclosures are being made. From the Karnataka to Haryana elections, Rahul cited multiple instances of electoral malpractice and made detailed presentations, but people didn’t believe him. Today, the disclosures show that what he was saying was right,” Ramesh told the press.
Venugopal said the Congress would continue to raise the issue both inside and outside Parliament, declaring that the party would “protest in the Parliament and resist on the streets”.
He added that a detailed roadmap for the nationwide agitation would be finalised after the INDIA bloc meeting on Wednesday.
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