Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday (September 29, 2026) called for the immediate removal of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, and demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi's resignation on moral grounds for "pressuring" the poll panel chief.

Addressing a crucial meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) in Delhi, Mr. Kharge said the party would take to the streets and raise in Parliament issues pertaining to the alleged irregularities in the electoral rolls and the poll process.

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Mr. Kharge put forth five major demands at the CWC: that all data on changes in the electoral rolls be made public; that all voters whose names have been deleted get a chance to appeal; and that all political parties be given electoral rolls in a simple format, in time.

He also demanded an independent, time-bound probe wherever serious anomalies are found, and said the poll process should be made transparent so that no one feels information is being hidden.

"The two Election Commissioners have themselves termed the CEC's actions as 'arbitrary and unreasonable', and the entire nation now knows that he has been trying to help the ruling party. In such a situation, he does not have the right to be in his position and should be removed immediately," Mr. Kharge said.

"Together with this, the Prime Minister should also resign on moral grounds for 'pressuring' the CEC," the Congress chief said in his inaugural address at the CWC.

"We should take a pledge at this CWC meeting that there should be transparency in the electoral rolls and that the poll process should be impartial. Institutions should be independent, and the vote of every Indian should be protected," he said.

This, he said, is the core of the Constitution and the soul of Indian democracy, and the Congress party would not be left behind in fulfilling this responsibility; it would take to the streets and raise these issues in Parliament.

He also thanked Congress workers and leaders for standing behind Rahul Gandhi, who raised the alleged irregularities and highlighted the role of the CEC in "supporting" the BJP.