The INDIA bloc’s third day of protests in Delhi has one central demand: the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The trigger is the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision — SIR — of electoral rolls.

The opposition alleges the SIR exercise has wrongly excluded eligible voters, using the phrase ‘vote chori’ to describe what it calls wrongful deletions. Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala has claimed about 13 crore names were removed from rolls across 19 states — a claim the Commission rejects.

The Election Commission and the BJP maintain the revision is a routine exercise to keep voter lists accurate, and deny any partisan motive. Police have kept prohibitory orders in force in central Delhi as the protests continue.

The row has now reached the Supreme Court, which has said it did not approve a modified version of Form 6 used for new voter registration, and has sought the poll body’s records. The opposition plans a march to Rashtrapati Bhavan next.