Janandolan Maha Maitri, Citizens For Democracy and others seek resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan, Gyanesh Kumar

President of Samaj Parivartana Samudaya and Citizens for Democracy SR Hiremath addressed reporters in Hubballi on Wednesday. | Photo credit: KIRAN BAKALE

Janandolan Maha Maitri, Citizens For Democracy and other organizations have demanded the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, one for his failure to conduct infallible exams and the other for partisanship through a special intensive review.

Addressing presspersons in Hubballi on Wednesday, Samaj Parivartana Samudaya and Citizens for Democracy president SR Hiremath said Dalits, migrants, minorities and Adivasis have been omitted from electoral rolls on an unprecedented scale due to SIR.

Mr. Hiremath also termed the recent Supreme Court judgment upholding the SIR as the biggest disappointment as it failed to uphold the letter and spirit of the Constitution and Constituent Assembly debates on the independence of the Election Commission of India.

Irrespective of the Chief Justice of India’s remark about cockroaches and parasites, Citizens For Democracy and other organizations have written a strongly worded letter to Chief Justice Surya Kant, he said.

He said Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan should resign immediately and take responsibility for the failure to conduct clean national level tests like NEET-UG, CBSE and others. The failure has an adverse impact on the future of millions of students, he said.

Mr. Hiremath took strong exception to the way the Chief Election Commissioner and the Election Commission of India were functioning and said certain developments were of great concern. Large-scale deletion of people from the electoral roll without following the process of natural justice will harm the country more, he said.

Published – 03 Jun 2026 20:22 IST