CPI wants SC review of SIR

Bengaluru: The Communist Party of India, Karnataka State Council, has called on Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to resign, citing what it describes as grave developments inside the Election Commission during the revision of electoral rolls. The demand was issued from Bengaluru on 24 September 2026.

CPI pointed to a media investigation that, it said, laid bare a serious crisis within the Commission. Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had, over ten months, allegedly placed objections at least fourteen times against decisions taken under Gyanesh Kumar’s leadership.

Those objections covered the SIR exercise, what the commissioners allegedly termed illegal and unauthorised changes in Form 6, and the centralisation of electoral-roll software, among other matters. They also reportedly petitioned the Cabinet Secretary over the concentration of control. CPI said the objections were set aside and the SIR process went ahead. The party asserted that more than 13 crore electors were then struck off rolls across states and union territories.

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