Activist Coalition Announces Nationwide Campaign to Demand Scrapping of Electoral Revision Process

NEW DELHI — People Against SIR, a coalition of activist groups and organisations campaigning against the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, has announced a nationwide protest campaign spanning from November 26 to December 20. The campaign aims to challenge the electoral revision process, demand accountability from election authorities, and reclaim Delhi’s Jantar Mantar as an officially designated protest site.

The announcement follows a meeting of the platform’s working group, which convened to implement decisions made by its National Coordination Committee regarding the intensification of protests demanding the complete scrapping of the SIR exercise.

The nationwide agitation will commence on November 26, coinciding with Constitution Day, with demonstrations centred on the right to vote and the right to livelihood. The opening day’s events will begin with the reading of the Preamble to the Constitution and will feature participation from a broad coalition representing farmers, workers, agricultural labourers, Adivasis, Dalits, minorities, students, youth, and women. A central feature of the November 26 mobilization will be a march to reclaim Jantar Mantar.

The protest calendar includes mass gatherings across the country on December 10 to mark Human Rights Day, focusing on the right to peaceful assembly and the demand for the re-notification of Jantar Mantar as a protest venue. Throughout the campaign period extending until December 20, the platform has scheduled public meetings, rallies, and grassroots audits of electoral rolls across multiple states to build local awareness regarding alleged wrongful voter deletions.

The campaign will culminate on December 20 with booth-level meetings across the country passing resolutions. These resolutions will be forwarded to President Droupadi Murmu with an appeal to ensure the restoration of voting rights and the scrapping of the SIR process before any future elections are announced.

Addressing a press conference in the capital, activist Anjali Bharadwaj criticized the Election Commission’s recent decisions to provide relief to voters omitted from draft electoral rolls in seven states and Union Territories, characterizing the move as a belated U-turn that fails to address core structural concerns. Bharadwaj noted that the poll body had permitted voters wrongly categorized as absent, shifted, dead, or duplicate to submit enumeration forms rather than forcing them to reapply entirely through Form 6.

“The Election Commission has clearly said that those whose names were wrongly deleted will not have to fill Form 6. They will be given enumeration forms. They will have to give a statement, and the BLOs will verify it. It is the Election Commission’s responsibility to ensure that these forms reach the people,” Bharadwaj said.

She questioned why millions of citizens who previously completed Form 6 should bear the administrative consequences of the poll body’s procedures. Bharadwaj also raised specific concerns regarding alleged targeted deletions of Muslim voters in areas such as Mustafabad in Delhi via Form 7 applications, demanding that nationwide data concerning Form 7 deletion requests be made public.

“Our demand remains that the SIR should be completely scrapped. Action should be taken against Gyanesh Kumar and others responsible,” Bharadwaj added.

Actor and activist Prakash Raj, who also spoke at the briefing, asserted that the protests would be sustained over the long term. Raj questioned the legitimacy of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government, alleging that it came to power improperly and pointing to the results of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

“This is an illegal government. They gave the call for ‘400 paar’, but they got only 240. They misused the EC even before SIR came,” Raj said. He challenged government figures regarding alleged infiltrators, demanding concrete evidence, and criticized the practice of labelling critics as urban Naxals. “We have decided that this is a long battle. All organisations will come together with evidence. We will continue to educate people across the country,” he said.

Mehr Pasricha of the Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) voiced support for the movement, emphasizing the fundamental nature of electoral participation. “This is perhaps the most important fight,” Pasricha said, adding that the CJP extends its full solidarity to the campaign.

Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union Joint Secretary and All India Students’ Association leader Danish alleged that citizens protesting against perceived vote theft have faced police action, detentions, and official notices. “You have tried to save Gyanesh Kumar, but you will not succeed. We will not go back until accountability is fixed,” Danish said.

All India Kisan Sabha leader P Krishna Prasad told reporters that the agitation would reach down to the grassroots level through booth-level engagement alongside the major mobilization in Delhi on Constitution Day.

Beyond the immediate rollback of the SIR process, the platform’s broader charter of demands includes comprehensive electoral reforms. These encompass a return to paper ballots, the introduction of proportional representation, strict limitations on money and muscle power in politics, and the legalisation of state funding for elections. The platform also stated that it plans to formally raise issues of alleged police excesses and restrictions on peaceful assemblies with lawmakers, governance institutions, the judiciary, and political parties.