Farmers in India joined nationwide protests on Friday, as students, opposition parties and civil society groups demanded the removal of the country's chief election commissioner, with several people detained by police across the country.
The protests began in late September over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, a house-to-house exercise launched in June 2025 to remove deceased, duplicate and ineligible entries. About 130 million names have been struck from draft rolls, according to the Election Commission. The commission said that wrongly excluded voters can appeal, but opposition parties allege the deletions were manipulated to benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - a charge denied by the commission and the BJP. On Friday, farmers marched to the Election Commission headquarters in Delhi. Similar demonstrations were held at more than 500 district headquarters and state capitals across the country, demanding the restoration of voting rights for millions of people wrongly excluded from electoral rolls.
"It's united front of the farmers. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha has given a call to join protests across the country, a united people's march against the denial of the voting rights for 130 million of our voters. And very clearly, a good part of these voters are from the rural areas," said Vijoo Krishnan, a farmer leader.
Trade unions, civil society organizations and students also took part in the march. Police were deployed to the street to stop them meters from the Election Commission headquarters.
The protesters chanted slogans calling for the election chief's resignation and reforms to the electoral process. Waving national flags, civil society members also took to the streets, saying they were there to defend democracy.
"More and more people are coming on the street because this is one of the most significant moments in Indian democracy. We are at the cusp of something that could become a disaster for our country, which is a totalitarian regime that spreads hatred and does not do anything for the people. Or we have the possibility of positive change," said Jayati Ghosh, an academic.
Students and youth groups have been organizing similar protests and sit-ins nationwide.
"We believe in the rights that the Constitution gives us. If those rights are challenged or attacked, are threatened by the current regime, be it of the farmers, be it of the students, be it of women, or be it from anybody, coming from any community, any caste, any class background, any gender, of this country, we will stand up for it," said Sharanya, a student leader
Authorities deployed large numbers of police, put up barricades and detained protesters. It took several hours to clear the roads, as police prohibited gatherings of five or more people to prevent young people from staging mass demonstrations.
Protests continue in India with calls grow for election chief to resign
Protests continue in India with calls grow for election chief to resign
