Congress says voters will resist alleged electoral-system capture

The Congress has intensified its criticism of India’s electoral-roll revision process, saying citizens will not tolerate what it calls “vote chori” or the capture of the electoral system. Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said on Thursday that the INDIA bloc remained committed to protecting the Constitution and democracy. His comments followed criticism of the Special Intensive Revision, or SIR, attributed to former Chief Election Commissioner O.P.

Rawat. Ramesh cited Rawat’s reported claim that the process had resulted in an unprecedented number of eligible voters losing their voting rights. He also alleged that changes to Form 6, used in electoral-roll matters, were introduced unconstitutionally in July 2026 to remove members of Generation Z from the rolls.

The Congress leader said the Election Commission’s credibility had been damaged and argued that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi should have taken stronger action against decisions they opposed. These claims have not been accepted by the Election Commission, which says differing views are normal in institutional deliberations and that its orders have legal sanction. The INDIA bloc announced joint “save democracy” marches in all districts and five major rallies.

Opposition MPs are expected to march to the Election Commission on October 6, while opposition leaders plan to meet the President to raise alleged voter-list irregularities. The opposition grouping has also demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and called for future elections to be conducted using ballot papers. The Congress’s claims and the planned protests follow reports that two election commissioners had objected repeatedly to decisions concerning the SIR process.

The Election Commission maintains that established statutory procedures were followed.