A march against the Special Intensive Revision headed for the Election Commission in Delhi on Friday, on a day that also brought an RTI disclosure about two Election Commissioners’ complaint against a senior Commission officer and action over voter list errors in Pilibhit.
New Delhi: Protesters opposing the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls marched towards the Election Commission of India (ECI) headquarters in New Delhi on Friday, October 23, amid heavy security, as two separate developments drew fresh attention to the Commission: documents obtained under the Right to Information Act showing that two Election Commissioners had complained to the Cabinet Secretary about a senior ECI officer, and the removal of poll officials in Uttar Pradesh’s Pilibhit over errors in the voter list.
Friday’s march
The march, organised by the Delhi Coordination Committee of People Against SIR and supported by the Krantikari Yuva Sangathan and the Students’ Federation of India, set off from near Gole Dak Khana in central Delhi towards the ECI headquarters, with activists from Delhi, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh. The organisers said the march “would remain peaceful and disciplined”, and that if stopped they would hold a “People’s Parliament”, adopt resolutions and sing the national anthem. Delhi Police and Rapid Action Force personnel were deployed in large numbers, and traffic was diverted around Bangla Sahib Gurudwara, Connaught Place, Parliament Street and Jantar Mantar between 1 PM and 5 PM.
On October 22, the Union Home Ministry extended the deployment of 273 companies of Central Armed Police Forces in Delhi until October 31, on a Delhi Police request citing the possibility of sudden protests at sensitive locations. The forces were first brought in earlier this month in connection with the Cockroach Janta Party’s protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
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The RTI disclosure
Documents obtained under the RTI Act by activist Commodore Lokesh K. Batra (retd.) show that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi wrote separate letters on July 29, 2026 to Cabinet Secretary T.V. Somanathan about Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Maneesh Garg, an IAS officer appointed by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet in September 2024. According to the records, the Commissioners objected that Garg had issued a work-allocation order for senior officers without informing them or obtaining their approval, which allegedly “threatened to concentrate the powers” within the Commission over electoral roll matters, and accused him of violating the rules and a 2023 law.
The Cabinet Secretary acknowledged both letters on August 5 and forwarded copies to the Department of Personnel and Training, the Establishment Officer and the office of the Chief Election Commissioner. The file notes record that the letters were sent by the Commissioners “in their individual capacity” and “cannot be seen as a formal communication from the Commission as a whole”, and that action “at this stage may be inappropriate” and “may also be construed as interference in the functioning of the Constitutional Body.” The documents, the notes said, would be kept to “enable it to be taken into account in future decision-making regarding the officer.”
The ECI, in a September 26 clarification issued by the Chief Election Commissioner and both Commissioners, said the work-redistribution orders issued by Garg were never implemented, following directions from the two Commissioners, and that the letters concerned an officer on deputation and did not relate to policy or IT division matters. The RTI records do not refer to the SIR process. Garg’s response has not been reported.
Action in Pilibhit
In Uttar Pradesh, the Chief Electoral Officer’s office removed the Electoral Registration Officer and a voter registration centre operator in Pilibhit from their duties and initiated legal action against them, after checks in Assembly Constituency 127-Pilibhit found that some voters’ EPIC numbers online were showing other voters’ details. The District Election Officer was directed to review the voter lists of all constituencies in the district and report “within two days”, and all DEOs in the State were asked to carry out a similar review.
The action came hours after the UP Congress alleged manipulation of 16,554 votes in Pilibhit Sadar and urged the Supreme Court to halt the SIR. Congress UP in-charge Rajendra Pal Gautam claimed that 13,150 names were changed, 884 names of residents deleted and 2,600 names of non-residents added between July and September, after the final draft roll was published. These are the party’s allegations; the CEO’s office has described the errors as voter details displayed against other voters’ EPIC numbers.
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Background
Protests demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the SIR began in Delhi on October 10 and have since led to several court proceedings, including contempt pleas over Metro closures before the Supreme Court and challenges to preventive detentions of protest leaders. Petitions challenging the SIR itself, including one by INDIA bloc leaders, are pending before the Supreme Court.
The allegations by the protesters and political parties about the SIR, and the complaints against the ECI officer, have not been adjudicated. The Commission’s position is set out above, and no finding has been made by any court or authority on these claims.