Odisha Congress on Friday, 25 September 2026, organised a large-scale rally and gheraoed the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Odisha, in Bhubaneswar, demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the electoral process. The protest marks a sharp escalation in the Opposition's campaign against the Election Commission's functioning.

How the Protest Unfolded

Led by Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Bhakta Charan Das, Congress leaders and workers marched from the ADM office to the CEO's office and staged the gherao. Addressing the media during the demonstration, Das alleged that the Chief Election Commissioner has been acting at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government.

Das invoked the long-standing claims of Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, asserting that Gandhi's allegations of 'vote theft' had now been proved true. 'Not today, but for the last three years, Rahul Gandhi has been saying that 'vote theft' is taking place. His allegations have been proved true,' Das said.

Allegations Against the Election Commission

Das alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has been using the Election Commission as a weapon to 'steal' the country's electoral process, and that CEC Kumar, acting as a proxy for the BJP government, oversaw a flawed Special Intensive Revision (SIR) across the country, thereby undermining the democratic system.

According to Das, over the past 10 months, Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections on 14 occasions to various decisions of the Commission. He claimed that Kumar ignored their objections and continued to take decisions unilaterally, and that on one occasion the two commissioners raised objections as many as four times in a single day.

Das further alleged that the two commissioners reportedly learned about important modules, details, and decisions of the Commission through the media — indicating, he claimed, that they had been kept in the dark. He also alleged that Form-6, used to include new voters in electoral rolls, had been changed illegally despite the Commission allegedly lacking the authority to do so, and that Commissioner Joshi's objection to this change was ignored.

Letters to the Cabinet Secretary

Das referred to letters written to the Cabinet Secretary in which the two serving commissioners allegedly stated that CEC Gyanesh Kumar had violated the Representation of the People Act, 1950, and the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. 'This raises the question as to why the two serving commissioners had to take the matter outside the Commission to make their voices heard, and who initially provided political protection to the CEC to act against the law? The Modi government cannot distance itself from the question of accountability,' Das noted.

Criticising the Election Commission's explanation that decisions were taken unanimously despite differences of opinion, Das termed the explanation 'highly ridiculous.' He also alleged that the agendas of several Commission meetings were neither published in advance nor were their proceedings made public afterwards.

Demands and Political Context

Reiterating LoP Rahul Gandhi's characterisation of officials manipulating electoral rolls as 'traitors,' Das demanded Kumar's resignation or impeachment. He also cited Priyanka Gandhi's demand for criminal proceedings against the CEC. This comes amid a broader national Opposition offensive against the Election Commission, with multiple parties questioning the credibility of the Special Intensive Revision process. The gherao in Bhubaneswar is part of what Congress has described as a sustained, nationwide campaign to hold electoral authorities accountable.