Archive · 24 Sep 2026
Voter Deletions Prompt Calls for Gyanesh Kumar’s Immediate Resignation
Abhijeet Dipke said Gyanesh Kumar should resign because many names were removed from voter lists.
More than 13 crore names were reportedly deleted from draft lists in 30 states and Union territories.
Dipke said this could hurt opposition parties and their leaders.
He mentioned constituencies linked to Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal and MK Stalin.
Some of his claims could not be independently verified, and no evidence showed that deletions decided the elections.
The Election Commission said its members made the decisions together.
It denied that commissioners disagreed with one another.
The dispute is about whether the voter-list changes were a normal process or politically unfair.
CJP’s Abhijeet Dipke called for Election Commission chief Gyanesh Kumar to resign over mass voter deletions.
More than 13 crore names were removed from draft electoral rolls across 30 states and Union territories under SIR.
Dipke alleged deletions disproportionately affected opposition leaders’ constituencies, citing examples in West Bengal, Delhi and Tamil Nadu.
The Election Commission rejected claims of an internal rift, saying all SIR decisions were taken unanimously.
The reported deletions do not by themselves establish that they caused any election results.
- Who
- CJP’s Abhijeet Dipke criticized Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the Election Commission, while the commission defended its SIR decisions.
- What
- Dipke demanded Kumar’s immediate resignation and questioned the deletion of more than 13 crore names from draft electoral rolls.
- When
- The remarks followed an Indian Express investigation; the article does not provide a specific date for the remarks.
- Where
- The deletions were reported across 30 Indian states and Union territories, including constituencies in West Bengal, Delhi and Tamil Nadu.
- Why
- Dipke said the scale and alleged pattern of deletions raised questions about democracy and whether opposition leaders were being targeted; the Election Commission said decisions were unanimous.
Critics of the Deletions
Election Commission Response
Scale of voter-roll changes
Critics of the Deletions
Abhijeet Dipke said removing more than 13 crore names was unusually large and demanded accountability from Gyanesh Kumar.
Election Commission Response
The Election Commission defended the process and said its SIR decisions were taken unanimously.
Alleged political pattern
Critics of the Deletions
Dipke alleged that deletions in constituencies associated with opposition leaders showed a pattern and could undermine free and fair elections.
Election Commission Response
The Election Commission rejected the suggestion of an internal rift, while the article provides no commission admission that the deletions targeted opposition leaders.
Effect on election outcomes
Critics of the Deletions
Dipke linked deletions to results involving Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal and Pinarayi Vijayan.
Election Commission Response
The article states that voter deletions alone do not establish that they caused election results, and provides no evidence that they determined the Kerala outcome.
- Reported deletions
- More than 13 crore names were struck off draft electoral rolls.
- Geographic scope
- The deletions covered 30 states and Union territories.
- Process
- The deletions occurred under the Special Intensive Revision, or SIR, of electoral rolls.
- Election Commission position
- The Election Commission said all SIR decisions were taken unanimously.
- Bhabanipur example
- More than 51,000 names were reportedly deleted in Bhabanipur; Mamata Banerjee later lost the seat by 15,105 votes.
- New Delhi example
- Nearly 40,000 deletions were reported in New Delhi before the 2025 Delhi Assembly election, when Arvind Kejriwal lost the seat.
- Unverified claims
- The article says Dipke’s claims about approximately 1 lakh deletions in MK Stalin’s constituency and the effect on Kerala’s chief-ministerial outcome could not be independently verified or were unsupported by evidence.