Mumbai, September 26, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
The Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) on Saturday announced a statewide agitation on September 28, demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and alleging irregularities in the functioning of the Election Commission of India (ECI).
The party said the protest would focus on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and allegations raised by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi concerning electoral-roll management.
MPCC president Harshwardhan Sapkal accused the ECI of acting in a partisan manner and alleged that deletion of names of eligible voters would undermine constitutional rights.
“Deleting the names of legitimate, eligible voters from the electoral rolls is an outright assault on the Constitution,” Sapkal said in a statement.
The MPCC also demanded the arrest of Kumar, alleging that his conduct had compromised the independence of the poll panel.
The party claimed that more than three crore eligible voters had been removed from Maharashtra’s electoral rolls under the SIR exercise and alleged that around 13 crore names had been affected nationwide. These figures are Congress claims and were not independently established in the material available for this report.
The Congress also questioned the treatment of voters added to Maharashtra’s rolls before the 2024 Assembly elections and alleged that their current status had not been adequately verified.
The agitation comes amid reports of objections raised by Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi over various decisions concerning electoral-roll management. An Indian Express investigation reported that the two commissioners had formally recorded objections at least 14 times over 10 months on issues including voter registration, deletion and restoration of names, changes to Form 6 and management of electoral-roll databases.
The ECI has rejected suggestions of a split within the Commission. After a full meeting on Saturday, it said decisions relating to the SIR had been approved unanimously by all three commissioners and described the reported differences as part of the Commission’s internal functioning.
The Commission also announced changes to the SIR process, including doorstep collection of documents by Booth Level Officers in most cases and extensions to certain deadlines, including in Maharashtra.
The Maharashtra Congress said it would continue its campaign in support of demands for greater transparency and accountability in the functioning of the Election Commission.
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