Leftist parties are demanding the removal of the CEC and announcing a week-long protest against the SIR

CPI General Secretary D. Raja (left) and CPI Liberation General Secretary (ML) Dipankar Bhattacharya (right). File. | Photo credit: The Hindu, ANI

Five Left parties issued a joint statement demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and a halt to the Special Intensive Review (SIR) of electoral rolls. The parties also announced a week-long protest to be held across the country from September 26 to October 2 on the issue.

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The statement comes after reports that many of the “collective decisions” of the Election Commission of India (ECI) were actually taken by the CEC itself without keeping the two Election Commissioners in the loop. The commissioners, according to reports, objected to several decisions approved by Mr. Kumar, including the centralization of the electoral roll database.

Common demand

Five left parties – Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, Revolutionary Socialist Party and All India Forward Bloc – signed a joint statement. It was issued after an impromptu meeting between CPI(M) General Secretary MA Baba, CPI General Secretary D. Raja and CPI(ML) Liberation General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya at the CPI(M) headquarters, AKG Bhawan, in Delhi.

The parties demanded not only the removal of the CEC from office, but also the suspension of the SIR and the restoration of voting rights to all those wrongfully excluded from the electoral rolls. The parties also demanded that the “independent and democratic functioning” of the Election Commission be restored and that the current system of appointing Election Commissioners be replaced by a mechanism based on a Supreme Court-designed selection committee comprising the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the Chief Justice of India.

Public confidence in the polls has been undermined

The statement said the latest revelation confirms concerns repeatedly expressed by opposition parties and civil society organizations and exposes the hollowness of claims that the SIR process and electoral roll management are transparent and decentralized.

The issue, the Left parties said, goes far beyond SIR. “It concerns the transparency and democratic functioning of the European citizens’ initiative and the protection of the basic democratic principle of universal adult suffrage. Any system that makes suffrage dependent on opaque, centrally controlled processes undermines public confidence in the electoral system,” the statement said.

Published – 24 Sep 2026 21:16 IST