Dhruv Rathee, Prakash Raj join Bengaluru protest against Gyanesh Kumar

Bengaluru/IBNS-CMEDIA: PM Modi-critic YouTuber Dhruv Rathee and actor Prakash Raj on Thursday joined the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)’s protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in Bengaluru over allegations of “vote chori”.

The protest was held at Freedom Park ahead of the CJP’s planned October 10 agitation at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.

As announced earlier by CJP convener Abhijeet Dipke, Rathee joined the protest at Freedom Park and raised slogans demanding the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner.

In a video posted by Dipke on X, Rathee was heard raising the slogan, “Vote chor, gaddi chod” (“Vote thief, leave your throne”), along with “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”.

The protest comes amid a growing political campaign against the Election Commission of India over allegations of irregularities in the electoral process.

Protest over ‘vote chori’ allegations

The CJP and several established political parties have stepped up their criticism of the Election Commission following a media investigation that raised questions over the functioning of the poll panel.

Demand to end SIR

The protesters also demanded an end to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, a process that has drawn criticism from opposition parties and civil society groups.

The CJP is expected to intensify its campaign with the planned October 10 agitation at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.

Investigative report on SIR

The controversy follows a report by The Indian Express that detailed differences within the three-member Election Commission involving CEC Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.

According to the investigation, Sandhu and Joshi formally raised objections at least 14 times over a period of 10 months to decisions and orders concerning electoral rolls and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). They reportedly said some decisions had been taken without their knowledge.

The objections covered changes to Form 6, access to the electoral-roll database, deletion and restoration of voter names, appeals related to electoral rolls and aspects of the ECI’s internal decision-making.

The two Election Commissioners also reportedly raised concerns over what they described as the gradual centralisation of the electoral-roll database.

Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) at the constituency level have statutory responsibility for preparing and maintaining electoral rolls.

According to the investigation, Joshi called for an audit to ensure that only authorised statutory officials could alter the voter database, while Sandhu recorded complaints from state-level officials that they did not have “proper and complete access” to the relevant systems.

The report also said the two Commissioners separately wrote to Cabinet Secretary T. V. Somanathan over changes in the ECI’s work allocation that they felt could further concentrate control over the IT systems handling electoral rolls.

Election Commission rejects claims of internal rift

The Election Commission has disputed the interpretation of the report, saying written objections, suggestions and differing views are part of its internal deliberative process.

EC sources said all decisions, including those concerning the SIR, were taken with the approval of all three Election Commissioners and were unanimous.