India’s opposition marches over voter-roll revision

Opposition parties marched toward India’s Supreme Court on October 12, 2026, to protest the Election Commission of India’s Special Intensive Revision of voter rolls. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi joined the march. The opposition sought to submit a petition to the chief justice and demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, according to the Associated Press.

Protests and detentions

Authorities closed six Delhi Metro stations ahead of the march. AFP reported that thousands of people marched toward the court. The closures added a transport restriction to a protest already focused on the administration of an electoral process.

The march followed the detention of more than 2,000 protesters on October 10, including opposition lawmakers and leaders of the youth-led Cockroach Janta Party. Police said most were released that night. Three movement leaders were reported released on October 11, according to the Associated Press. Available reports do not establish a single reconciled detention total beyond that threshold.

What the roll figures show

An Indian Express analysis of Election Commission data published September 1 counted 133.7 million names omitted from SIR draft rolls across three phases. That was 14.1% of entries before the revision. The figure combines draft-roll changes across multiple states and territories; it does not measure how many eligible voters will be absent from final rolls.

Delhi’s draft roll contained 9,753,577 electors after an approximately 32.8% reduction. The Delhi electoral office’s published summary confirms the draft total. The reduction shows the scale of the local roll change, while leaving open how many omitted entries belong to eligible voters who should be restored.

Opposition parties allege that the revision favors Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party and excludes eligible voters. The BJP and Election Commission deny manipulation and say the exercise removes duplicate and ineligible entries. The sources reviewed do not establish nationwide partisan manipulation or quantify wrongful exclusions.

An Election Commission instruction dated September 29 called for a special enrolment drive for people left off rolls in 20 states and territories where SIR had been completed, The Indian Express reported. The drive provides a reported route to seek inclusion. Its effectiveness depends on eligible people being identified and their applications being processed in time.

The court’s immediate directions

On October 11, a Supreme Court bench directed authorities to avoid detaining peaceful protesters outside legal procedure and called for normal transport and internet services, subject to law, Akashvani News reported. Those directions addressed the handling of protests. They did not determine whether the voter-roll revision had been manipulated.

The immediate question for authorities is whether they comply with the court’s directions during protests. The electoral question depends on final rolls and whether eligible people omitted from drafts can obtain timely inclusion. Neither the draft-omission total nor the court’s protest directions resolve how many eligible voters, if any, will remain excluded.