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Thousands rallied in New Delhi and Mumbai on Sunday demanding the resignation of India's election commission chief over voter-roll revisions protesters say have disenfranchised millions and benefit PM Modi's BJP, with police detaining demonstrators for a third consecutive day.

What is a key fact in this story? (1)

**Thousands of protesters** rallied in New Delhi and Mumbai on Sunday, demanding the resignation of Election Commission Chief Gyanesh Kumar over a nationwide voter-roll revision launched last year that demonstrators say has removed millions of eligible voters.

What is a key fact in this story? (2)

**Opposition leaders Raj and Uddhav Thackeray** led Mumbai protests calling for the revisions to be scrapped; protesters charge the changes benefit PM Modi's BJP, a claim denied by both the Election Commission and the BJP.

📎 SkimNews has covered Gyanesh Kumar 7+ times · see the file →

India Protests Demand Election Chief Quit Over Voter Rolls — SkimNews

By Straits Times Asia · Summarized & edited by Kapil Samant · 2026-10-04

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Thousands of protesters rallied in New Delhi and Mumbai on Sunday, demanding the resignation of Election Commission Chief Gyanesh Kumar over a nationwide voter-roll revision launched last year that demonstrators say has removed millions of eligible voters.
Opposition leaders Raj and Uddhav Thackeray led Mumbai protests calling for the revisions to be scrapped; protesters charge the changes benefit PM Modi's BJP, a claim denied by both the Election Commission and the BJP.
Police detained demonstrators for a third straight day, with some breaching barricades in Delhi and surrounding vehicles carrying detainees; activist Aahna Singh said police 'dragged me by my hair,' while Delhi Police did not respond to comment requests.
The Election Commission says the exercise removes duplicate, deceased, or ineligible entries; on Friday it directed officials to register eligible voters inadvertently omitted from electoral rolls.
An opposition alliance plans a march to the Election Commission office on Tuesday to 'save democracy,' while the Gen Z Cockroach Janta Party has announced a major Delhi rally for October 10.

Why it matters: The protests mark an escalation beyond July's student-led crisis that forced out Modi's education minister — his third term's worst political test — and now target the referee of India's elections ahead of state contests, raising the cost for Modi's BJP of defending a revision the opposition calls disenfranchisement by design.