The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is a nationwide exercise by the Election Commission of India to revise electoral rolls. Under it, voters were required to establish their eligibility using documents from a specified list, which election officials accepted or rejected. The Election Commission has described the exercise as a way to clean up the rolls before elections.

How many names were removed from voter lists?

Around 130 million names have reportedly been removed from electoral rolls through the SIR, according to figures cited by the BBC and the civic-space monitor CIVICUS. The Election Commission says the exercise removes ineligible, duplicate and outdated entries. Critics argue many genuine voters were excluded.

Why are people protesting in Delhi?

Protesters are demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, an independent inquiry into the SIR, and the restoration of pre-SIR electoral rolls. The protests intensified after an Indian Express investigation reported that two election commissioners had recorded objections to decisions at least 14 times between October 2025 and August 2026.

What has the Supreme Court said?

On 5 October 2026, the Supreme Court declined to suspend the Chief Election Commissioner on an interim basis and issued notice to the Centre, the Election Commission and others on petitions challenging the CEC's decisions. On 11 October 2026, according to reports, the court issued an interim order against the illegal detention of peaceful protesters and directed that transport and internet services function normally.

What does the government say?

The BJP has accused the opposition of using the protests to seek political relevance. The Election Commission has defended the SIR as a clean-up of the rolls, and has described the differing views among commissioners reported by the Indian Express as part of normal institutional deliberation.

The SIR Voter Roll Protests in Delhi, October 2026: What Is Happening and Why, Explained

Since 2 October 2026, central Delhi has been the stage for some of the largest protests the capital has seen in years. The trigger is not a new law or a price rise, but the voter list itself. Protesters say the Election Commission of India's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has wrongly removed millions of genuine voters. The authorities have responded with heavy security, prohibitory orders and mass detentions, and the dispute has now reached the Supreme Court. Here is what is happening, and why.

The 60-second version

What: Mass protests against the SIR, the Election Commission's nationwide revision of voter rolls.
The scale: Around 130 million names have reportedly been removed from rolls, according to figures cited by the BBC and CIVICUS.
The demands: Resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, an independent inquiry into the SIR, and restoration of pre-SIR rolls.
The response: Prohibitory orders, metro closures, reported internet suspensions, and thousands of detentions, including of opposition MPs.
The courts: The Supreme Court refused to suspend the CEC on 5 October but issued notice, and on 11 October reportedly barred illegal detention of peaceful protesters.

What is the SIR?

The SIR is a revision of electoral rolls in which voters were asked to establish their eligibility by producing documents from a specified list. Election officials then accepted or rejected those claims. The exercise began in several states in 2025, ahead of their elections, including Bihar, and was later extended nationwide.

The Election Commission's case is straightforward: India's rolls contain duplicate entries, dead voters and people who have moved, and a thorough clean-up is needed before elections.

Critics' case is that the process put the burden on existing voters to re-prove their eligibility, that the document list excluded the poor and marginalised disproportionately, and that reports pointed to algorithmic deletions and bulk objections targeting particular communities. These are allegations the Election Commission has not accepted.

The question went to the Supreme Court, which, according to reporting, upheld the exercise and affirmed the Commission's broad powers in mid-2026, while setting up appeal tribunals for excluded voters and noting that the SIR was not meant to determine citizenship.

What lit the fuse

Two things turned a long-running legal fight into street protests.

The numbers. As final rolls were published, the scale of deletions, reported at around 130 million names, became clear, and complaints of missing names poured in.
The Indian Express investigation. In late September 2026, the paper reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had recorded objections to decisions taken in the Commission's name at least 14 times between October 2025 and August 2026. The report suggested decisions were being taken by the CEC over his colleagues' objections. The Commission responded that differing "views and observations" are part of deliberation in any institution.

How the protests unfolded

The following is based on reports compiled by CIVICUS from Indian and international outlets. Exact figures vary by source.

2 October: Protests began around Jantar Mantar. Delhi Police imposed Section 163 (barring gatherings of more than five people), eleven metro stations were reportedly closed, and telecom firms were reportedly told to suspend internet in a radius around the site. Around 1,000 people were reportedly detained, according to the Hindustan Times.
3 October: Activists and lawyers including Yogendra Yadav, Anjali Bhardwaj and Prashant Bhushan were reportedly detained, according to The Wire.
6 October: Police stopped an opposition march to the Election Commission. The opposition said 237 MPs took part, and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi was among those detained.
By 10 October: Scroll.in reported that at least 7,000 people had been detained in Delhi, with stadiums used as temporary holding centres.
13 October: The INDIA bloc vowed to keep fighting what it calls "vote chori" (vote theft) and to challenge the removal of Jantar Mantar as a designated protest site.

The Supreme Court steps in

5 October: A bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant declined to pass an interim order suspending CEC Gyanesh Kumar, asking, in effect, who would conduct elections if the CEC were suspended. It issued notice to the Centre, the Election Commission, the CEC and the other commissioners on the petitions, and said the court would first want authenticated information. It also observed that the poll body is expected to take unanimous decisions.
11 October: According to Scroll.in, the court issued an interim order against the illegal detention of peaceful protesters, and directed that transport and internet services be allowed to function normally.

The two sides

The opposition and protesters argue that the SIR has disenfranchised genuine voters on a massive scale, that the Election Commission is not acting independently, and that the crackdown on protests compounds the damage to democracy.

The BJP and the government reject this. The BJP has accused the opposition of using the protests to find political relevance, and the Election Commission maintains that the SIR is a legitimate clean-up of the rolls, upheld by the Supreme Court, with an appeals process available for anyone wrongly excluded.

What to watch next

The Supreme Court hearing. Replies from the Election Commission, the CEC and the Centre on the petitions.
Compliance with the 11 October order. Whether detentions and internet curbs ease.
Restoration of names. How many excluded voters win back their place through the appeal tribunals.
Parliament. Whether the opposition escalates, including any move against the CEC.

At its heart, this is a fight over who gets to vote, and over trust in the institution that decides. Whatever the courts conclude, the October 2026 protests have made the voter list one of the most contested documents in Indian politics.

This article is based on public reporting, including by the Indian Express, Hindustan Times, Scroll.in, The Wire, the BBC and CIVICUS, and on Supreme Court proceedings as reported. Allegations are attributed to those who made them. Figures for detentions and deletions vary by source.