Congress expands Maharashtra protests demanding election chief’s removal

India’s Congress party held protest marches across Maharashtra on Monday, demanding the removal and arrest of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in electoral rolls and the conduct of the Special Intensive Revision. The Maharashtra Congress said demonstrations took place outside district collectorates in cities including Pune, Nagpur, Nashik, Kolhapur, Solapur, Thane, Amravati and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. Party leaders and workers submitted memoranda to district officials seeking action against Kumar.

The protests followed an Indian Express investigation reporting that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections at least 14 times over 10 months to decisions and orders concerning electoral rolls. The reported objections covered voter additions and deletions, changes to Form 6, appeals over electoral-roll decisions and control of the voter database. Some internal notes described specific steps as unauthorised or illegal, according to the report.

The Election Commission has said the notes formed part of normal internal decision-making and maintained that its decisions during the period were unanimous. It has argued that concentrating on individual notes does not reflect the full set of approvals and decisions. Congress leaders said the reported objections supported concerns they had previously raised about revisions to electoral rolls.

Opposition leaders including Rahul Gandhi and Uddhav Thackeray have called for action against Kumar, while the commission has rejected the suggestion that internal differences demonstrated a lack of collective decision-making. The demonstrations included symbolic acts. Congress said workers in Amravati paraded an effigy of Kumar on a donkey, while protesters in Thane made an effigy perform sit-ups.

Senior party figures took part in protests in Kolhapur, Solapur, Amravati, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and other districts. The party alleged that revisions under Kumar had benefited the ruling BJP and cited the reported removal of more than 13 crore names from draft rolls during the SIR process across 30 states and Union Territories. The reported number alone does not establish that the deletions were improper.

Maharashtra Congress leaders said the agitation would continue until Kumar was removed and action was taken. They also warned that demonstrations would intensify in the coming days.