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Lucknow: Hundreds of social activists, students and members of civil society groups were detained, arrested and dragged away by Uttar Pradesh Police as they protested against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Friday (October 2). The protesters demanded his resignation over allegations regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. They had proposed a citizens’ march to mark Gandhi Jayanti and to raise their concerns about the mass deletion of voters.

The protesters had gathered in the afternoon at the state capital’s Parivartan Chowk in the Qaiserbagh area to participate in a “Citizens’ March” against what they said was “vote theft” in the name of the SIR. Their march had been planned towards the Gandhi statue near the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has defended its SIR process, while opposition parties and civil society groups have raised concerns over the deletion of around 13 crore names from the draft electoral rolls in 30 states and Union territories where the exercise has been conducted so far.

In the 10 states and three Union territories where final rolls were published by July 2026, the combined net reduction in voters on the electoral rolls was close to 6 crore. Uttar Pradesh had the second-highest net deletions, at 2 crore.

The controversy over serious flaws in the process has led to demands for Kumar’s resignation.

Also read: Why the Uttar Pradesh SIR is a Riddle

Civil society organisations and activists said they wanted to defend democratic and constitutional rights of citizens through their march on Gandhi Jayanti. They assembled at Parivartan Chowk at around 2 p.m., where a heavy police deployment was already in place.

Before beginning the proposed 2–3 km march, people raised slogans against the Chief Election Commissioner and demanded his resignation. Some protesters alleged that the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was complicit in “vote theft”.

Arrests were made during a citizens’ march against ‘vote theft’ in which hundreds were detained. Photo by arrangement.

When the protesters began walking towards the road between Begum Hazrat Mahal Park and the K.D. Singh Babu Stadium, police personnel attempted to stop them. The........

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