States » SouthPosted at: Oct 8 2026 3:35PM


Prakash Raj, Dipke join anti-SIR protest

Bengaluru, Oct 8 (UNI) The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls came under sharp attack in Bengaluru on Thursday as actor-activist Prakash Raj and YouTuber Dhruv Rathee joined Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke at a protest demanding an end to the exercise and the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The protest at Freedom Park, organised as a "People's Tribunal", brought together alleged victims of SIR from across Karnataka, besides students, women, youth organisations and civil society groups.
The protesters accused the Election Commission of disenfranchising eligible voters through alleged wrongful deletions from electoral rolls and raised slogans including "SIR radd karo" and "Gyanesh Kumar gaddi chhodo".
They also displayed placards carrying messages such as "Error 404 - Name Not Found", "Vote theft" and "Don't erase us, hear us".
Addressing the gathering, Prakash Raj said the campaign was not merely about an individual but against the SIR exercise itself.
"The aim of this protest is not to remove CEC Gyanesh Kumar alone. If he goes, another will replace him. The aim is to scrap the SIR," he said.
He alleged that the exercise had raised serious concerns over citizens' voting rights and urged people to join the campaign to "save democracy".
Rathee, who had announced his participation in the protest, joined Prakash Raj and Dipke on the stage as protesters intensified their opposition to the electoral roll revision.
The "People's Tribunal" provided a platform for people who claimed that their names had been deleted from electoral rolls during the SIR process. Organisers said their objective was to bring such cases into the public domain and highlight alleged discrepancies in the revision exercise.
The CJP has demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, scrapping of SIR and restoration of earlier electoral rolls. It has also sought an independent inquiry into alleged irregularities in the exercise.
The Bengaluru protest marks a high-profile escalation of the campaign against SIR, with prominent public figures joining civil society groups and affected voters in questioning the electoral roll revision process.
The organisers also announced a symbolic "Chappal Protest" in solidarity with women and to highlight concerns over women's safety.
UNI BDN
Tags: #Prakash Raj# Dipke join anti-SIR protest
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