Youth Congress stages protest against EC, demands Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Sep 28, 2026: Indian Youth Congress (IYC) workers marched from the organisation’s office on Raisina Road towards Jantar Mantar on Friday, September 25, raising slogans and carrying posters and banners demanding accountability from Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

IYC president Uday Bhanu Chib led the demonstration. The youth wing had also announced plans to gherao the Election Commission office.

Chib said the protest was aimed at seeking greater transparency and accountability in the functioning of the Election Commission, particularly over questions surrounding decisions related to electoral rolls.

“We are protesting because the Election Commission is responsible for protecting the sanctity of every vote. When questions are being raised within the Commission itself over decisions concerning electoral rolls, the country deserves answers and accountability,” he said.

Police and paramilitary personnel were deployed along the route, while barricades and detention buses were positioned near the IYC office and around Jantar Mantar.

The protest followed an online petition launched by the IYC a day earlier seeking Kumar’s removal. The petition came after a report by The Indian Express said Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections on several occasions over decisions concerning electoral rolls and the functioning of the poll panel.

Titled “Gyanesh, It’s Done Bro”, the petition calls for Kumar’s removal, arrest and prosecution, along with a comprehensive investigation into alleged irregularities in electoral processes. It also seeks the public disclosure of electoral records and internal objections raised within the Election Commission.

Chib said the campaign was intended to take concerns over electoral transparency beyond the Congress’s political campaign and into wider public discourse.

“Young people cannot remain silent when there are questions over the electoral process. We demand that the CEC take responsibility and resign, and that the objections raised within the Commission be made public,” he said.

The IYC said its online campaign seeks to mobilise citizens, particularly young people, around what it described as concerns over transparency and accountability in the functioning of the poll panel.

The Election Commission has said that differences of view and comments are part of its deliberative process and has maintained that decisions, including those concerning the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, were taken unanimously.