New Delhi: Hundreds of protesters, including students, farmers and civil society organisations, gathered in central Delhi Friday to demand the resignation of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the scrapping of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Over 100 of them were later detained by police.Carrying the national flag and raising slogans against the exercise by Election Commission of India, the demonstrators set out towards the ECI headquarters, alleging that the revision had led to the “unfair” deletion of voters.The march, organised by Delhi Coordination Committee of People Against SIR, began near Gole Dak Khana around 1pm and moved towards Ashoka Road, with police personnel deployed in large numbers across central Delhi.Around 2pm, police asked the crowd to disperse. As the march proceeded towards the ECI headquarters, several protesters were detained. Section 163 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, which prohibits unlawful assemblies under specified circumstances, was imposed in the area, according to police sources.Protesters from Delhi, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh were, however, determined to make their voices heard, with slogans of “Gyanesh Kumar, resign”, “Halt SIR” and “Won’t tolerate vote theft” filling the air.Demonstrators argued that SIR threatened the integrity of the electoral process and citizens’ right to vote. The People Against SIR collective has demanded that electoral rolls be restored to their pre-2024 version and updated through social audits, in accordance with ECI’s manual and the guidelines of Comptroller and Auditor General.Among those who travelled to Delhi were Satendra and Sompal Singh, farmers from Sambhal in UP. “We have travelled nearly 150km to be here. We will continue this struggle,” Satendra said.Rajvir Singh, a retired civil engineer from Dwarka, demanded, “The chief election commissioner must resign, SIR must be withdrawn, and the country must return to ballot-based electoral processes.”“Protests are not confined to Delhi. This is happening everywhere in India today,” said Devang, a student organisation member. Demonstrations have been planned in 88 cities across 18 states, involving 145 organisations, from Oct 23 to Nov 1, organisers said.Naaz, a citizen group member, said she had helped several people to fill SIR forms and complete other formalities. “Despite all documents, they were left out of the list.”Members of All India Students’ Association, All India Students’ Federation, All India Democratic Women’s Association, All India Democratic Students’ Organisation, Krantikari Yuva Sangathan and Students’ Federation of India took part in the protest.Traffic diversions were enforced between 1pm and 5pm, affecting roads around Gurdwara Bangla Sahib, Connaught Place, Parliament Street and Jantar Mantar.
