INDIA Bloc Meets in Delhi as Kharge Sets Out Six Demands Over SIR and the Election Commission

Opposition parties in the INDIA bloc gathered at New Delhi's Constitution Club on Wednesday to draw up a common strategy against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, turning weeks of separate protests over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls into a coordinated political campaign. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge opened the meeting by laying out six specific demands and calling on the CEC to step down.

The meeting comes a day after the Congress Working Committee passed a resolution seeking Kumar's resignation, a suspension of the SIR exercise and the restoration of voters allegedly struck off the rolls. Our earlier coverage traced how the row escalated after a report on dissent inside the Election Commission.

Kharge's six demands

In his opening remarks, Kharge framed the dispute around the principle of one person, one vote, one value, and argued that the burden should fall on the system, not the citizen, to prove that no genuine voter is left out. He listed six demands:

• future elections should be held on the electoral rolls as they stood before the SIR;
• due notice and a proper mechanism before any legitimate voter is removed;
• protection for eligible voters excluded because of administrative failures;
• voting by paper ballot instead of electronic voting machines;
• a simpler registration process for young and first-time voters;
• institutional accountability at the Election Commission.

Kharge claimed that more than 13 crore names had been removed from voter lists and said that if names are deleted, the public deserves to know whose and why. He also referred to reports that the two other election commissioners had raised objections 14 times in 10 months, arguing this called Kumar's integrity into question.

Who attended, and who did not

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh listed 19 participating parties, among them the Congress, Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress, NCP (SP), Shiv Sena (UBT), RJD, CPI(M), CPI, National Conference, PDP, JMM, CPI-ML and IUML. Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Tejashwi Yadav, Mamata and Abhishek Banerjee and Supriya Sule were among those present, while Uddhav Thackeray joined virtually.

There were notable gaps. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav sent two MPs instead of attending himself, and the Aam Aadmi Party and DMK skipped the meeting altogether. Posters accusing opposition leaders of double standards on the Election Commission also appeared around the venue before the session began.

The numbers problem

Removing a Chief Election Commissioner requires a process similar to that for a Supreme Court judge, including a special majority in both Houses of Parliament. Leaders within the opposition have acknowledged privately that they do not have those numbers. The purpose of Wednesday's meeting, as described by participants, is therefore to present a united front and agree on a joint agitation plan rather than to secure the CEC's immediate removal.

The Election Commission has already made some concessions, including withdrawing the extra SIR declaration from Form 6, as we reported when it announced transparency measures last weekend. Opposition leaders say those steps do not address their core concerns about deletions.

What to watch

The key questions now are whether the bloc agrees on a concrete timetable for street protests or a fresh removal motion, and whether parties that stayed away, particularly AAP and the DMK, sign on later. How the Election Commission responds to the six demands, especially the call to use pre-SIR rolls, will shape the next round of this dispute.

This is an original summary based on public reporting. See our editorial policy for how we source, write, and correct our stories.