The Keralam Legislative Assembly on Monday (October 12, 2026) passed a resolution seeking the removal of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and steps to improve transparency in the functioning of the Election Commission of India (ECI).

The ruling Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Opposition CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) supported the resolution moved by Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) objected to the contents of the resolution and proposed amendments, but they were rejected.

The House expressed deep concern over the accusations levelled against the ECI, while observing that free, transparent and impartial elections and universal adult franchise constitute the basis of Indian democracy. “Given the circumstances where serious doubts have been raised about the impartiality of the ECI, it is imperative that steps be taken to remove the CEC to restore the credibility of the institution,” the resolution said.

It urged the Centre and the ECI to address the defects in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls and restore voting rights to all eligible voters. It wanted the Centre and the ECI to take steps to remove Mr. Gyanesh Kumar as CEC, and restructure the panel selecting the CEC by including the Chief Justice of India alongside the Prime Minister and the Lok Sabha Opposition Leader.

“Complaints have emerged that crores of eligible voters have been excluded from the electoral rolls without following any proper criteria or informing them in advance. Snatching away the right to vote of marginalised sections, minorities, migrant labourers and young voters through technical chicanery and defects constitutes a flagrant breach of democratic principles,” the resolution said.

“The gravity of the situation is further compounded by reports that the powers of the Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) to prepare the voters’ list were diluted, that amendments were made to Form 6, and that the two other Election Commissioners had objected to ECI decisions. Aberrations in the electoral roll are tantamount to undermining the people’s mandate,” the resolution said.

“The Central government also destroyed the credibility of the ECI as an institution by transforming the CEC selection committee into one in which it had a majority. The Supreme Court had ordered that the panel should include the Chief Justice of India. Only an impartial panel that consists of the Prime Minister, the Opposition Leader and the CJI can pick Election Commissioners who are independent. Therefore, steps should be taken to restructure this panel,” the resolution said.

Four members proposed amendments and additions to the resolution.

The Chief Minister initially rejected all the proposals on the grounds that they did not conform to the spirit of the document. However, he accepted one where Opposition Leader Pinarayi Vijayan suggested that part of a sentence “lakhs of eligible voters were excluded from the electoral roll” be replaced with “crores” as that was the case across the country.

BJP Parliamentary Party leader B. B. Gopakumar questioned the legality of the 2026 Assembly elections and sought their cancellation and the dissolution of the Assembly. It was rejected.

At least two fresh FIRs have been registered against Congress leaders, including Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, in connection with the INDIA bloc’s protest in central Delhi on Wednesday (October 7, 2026) against the revision of electoral rolls and demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Delhi Police sources said.

CEC row LIVE: October 8, 2026

The latest cases relate to allegations of assaulting and obstructing police personnel deployed during the protest and damaging a police vehicle, a police source close to the matter told The Hindu. The police are also registering another case over the staging of an unauthorised protest.

The FIRs are separate from the cases registered following the INDIA bloc’s protest on Tuesday (October 6, 2026). Police had earlier booked Opposition leaders in connection with the previous demonstration, including over forcible entry (or criminal trespass) into Akashvani Bhavan.

The fresh cases were registered after a police constable deployed for crowd control alleged that he was surrounded and assaulted by protesters during Wednesday’s (October 7, 2026) demonstration.

The constable, identified as Ankit Kasana and posted with the Parliament Police, told the police that a group of around 30 to 35 protesters, including men and women, surrounded him while the police were trying to manage the crowd during Mr. Gandhi’s detention. He alleged that the protesters abused him, tore his uniform and attacked him with their fingernails and teeth.

Mr. Kasana was subsequently taken to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital for a medical examination.

“The FIR was lodged after the statement of the personnel who were assaulted during the protest,” a police official said.

Police alleged that protesters damaged a police vehicle, smashing its windows, during Wednesday’s (October 9, 2026) demonstration, while Congress workers punctured the tyre of a bus carrying detained protesters.

Wednesday’s action came after another day of confrontation between the Opposition and the Delhi Police over the INDIA bloc’s campaign against the revision of electoral rolls. The Opposition parties have been demanding the removal of Mr. Kumar, alleging that the electoral roll revision process is being carried out without adequate safeguards and transparency. The Election Commission has rejected the Opposition’s allegations.

On Wednesday (October 7, 2026), Mr. Gandhi, Ms. Vadra and around 80 other leaders were detained by the New Delhi police after the protesters gathered in the Jantar Mantar area. The police pushed the protesters into buses and took them away.

Congress workers allegedly punctured a tyre of one of the buses being used to transport the protesters. Videos of the incident went viral on social media platforms. Mr. Gandhi was subsequently moved to another bus and taken to a police station on Barakhamba Road, where he remained in detention for several hours before being released.

Congress leaders K.C. Venugopal, Pawan Khera, A.A. Rahim and Sivadasan were among those detained along with the Gandhis.

A senior police official said the force had observed a growing pattern of “competition” among organisations staging protests, with groups increasingly seeking to make their demonstrations more dramatic and attract greater attention. “There is now a competition between the various organisations staging protests to make them more dramatic and damage public property to get more attention,” the official said.

Another INDIA bloc protest has been planned for Thursday (October 8, 2026), prompting the Delhi Police to reinforce security arrangements across central Delhi. Barricades have been placed at several points and additional personnel deployed at locations expected to witness gatherings.

Police officials said those found violating the law during Thursday’s demonstration would be detained and cases registered.

The successive protests have resulted in major traffic restrictions and heightened police presence in the heart of the capital.

The Left parties, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), trade unions, students and youth organisations have decided to step up protests demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar for his “illegal” actions that allegedly led to the deletion of millions of voters from the electoral rolls in several States during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).

The All India Students Association (AISA) alleged that by editing the existing Form 6, the application form for inclusion of an individual’s name in the electoral roll, the Election Commission of India (ECI) was trying to stop members of ‘Gen Z’ from enrolling as voters.

Talking to reporters here on Saturday, CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankara Bhattacharya said his party did a house-to-house survey in certain constituencies in Bihar where mass deletions were reported during the 2025 SIR. He said the party found that a substantial number of voters had been wrongly deleted from the electoral rolls.

In Aigaon and Ziradei constituencies, where his party lost the election by 95 and 2,626 votes respectively, the party surveyed 204 voters whose names had been deleted before SIR in three booths and found 46 of them, or 22.5%, still residing in their villages.

“In four booths, the survey found that of 665 voters deleted during SIR, 77 were living in the village. More than 2,000 voters could have been wrongfully excluded across Aigaon,” he added.

In Ziradei, he said that of the nine booths surveyed, 122 of 665 voters whose names were deleted during SIR were still residing in the village, while 15 of 189 voters deleted before the SIR were also found there.

AISA president Neha, who was also present, said the Delhi Police were not allowing any protests in and around Jantar Mantar, and that force was used to suppress the youth and student protests demanding Mr. Kumar’s resignation. She said the SIR process undermined the universal right to vote. “The Form 6 is being edited. The exercise to update the electoral rolls is not taking place. It is a deliberate attempt to keep ‘Gen Z’ out of the electoral process,” she said.

Trade unions, farm outfits to join protests

The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) has demanded the immediate resignation of Mr. Kumar, taking responsibility for the “disenfranchisement and disentitlement” of working people due to the ongoing SIR.

“The majority of the victims are poor, marginalised and mostly migrant workers who are made to wander here and there to enrol as voters, losing their earnings for no fault of theirs,” CITU general secretary Elamaram Kareem said in a statement.

“The provisions of the Labour Codes making identity cards prescribed by the Central Government mandatory for enrolling and availing of social security benefits under the Social Security Code reveal the dangers of the probable prescription of the EPIC card as identity proof in place of the prevailing Aadhaar Card, which shall potentially push all those out of the electoral rolls out of the meagre social security net that exists,” he added.

The SKM demanded the immediate removal and prosecution of Mr. Kumar. “The unilateral and authoritarian acts by Gyanesh Kumar as the CEC amount to treason. He should be prosecuted as per law in a befitting manner to serve as a lesson against such probable actions by any belligerent bureaucrats in the future,” the SKM said.

It also demanded amendments to the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023. The SKM said the Act altered the selection committee’s composition by removing the Chief Justice of India and replacing that position with a Cabinet Minister nominated by the Prime Minister, effectively establishing a 2-to-1 government majority on the selection panel.