Uttar Pradesh Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar on Sunday, 18 October 2026, launched a sharp counter-offensive against the Opposition, questioning why the Booth Level Officers (BLOs) appointed by parties such as the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party failed to flag or correct the 'so-called errors' they are now attributing to the Election Commission of India (ECI) in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Rajbhar's Challenge to the Opposition

'If there are any errors in the SIR, the Election Commission provides opportunities to rectify them from time to time,' Minister Rajbhar said. 'If an error exists, the responsibility lies with the individual who was present at the booth and served as the Booth Level Officer. Every party had appointed its own booth-level representatives. What were the BLOs from the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, or other parties actually observing? Were their BLOs simply asleep?'

The statement shifts accountability squarely onto Opposition party machinery, which had a statutory presence at polling booths during the SIR process and the legal right to raise objections through official channels.

Background: Anti-ECI Protests in the Capital

The remarks come as the Congress-led INDIA bloc, along with the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), student activists, and allied civil society groups, organised separate demonstrations in New Delhi against the ECI and Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over the SIR procedure. Opposition parties have maintained that their protests are aimed at raising systemic concerns about the electoral process, and have demanded Gyanesh Kumar's resignation from the top electoral post.

The SIR process — a periodic mechanism to update, verify, and clean voter rolls ahead of elections — has become a political flashpoint, with critics alleging that deletions and modifications were made without adequate verification, and the ruling dispensation insisting that checks and balances were in place throughout.

Minister Questions 'Regime Change' Rhetoric

Rajbhar also took aim at the language deployed by some Opposition leaders and student activists, who have reportedly used the phrase 'regime change' during the protests. Drawing a constitutional distinction, he said, 'India and Bangladesh cannot be compared from a constitutional perspective. Such a scenario is not possible in India.'

The invocation of Bangladesh — which saw a student-led political upheaval in 2024 — has been a recurring flashpoint in recent Indian political discourse, with ruling party leaders consistently arguing that India's constitutional framework and democratic institutions make such comparisons inappropriate.

Detentions at Jantar Mantar

Several protesters were reportedly detained at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi during the demonstrations. Addressing these detentions, Rajbhar was unapologetic: 'If you hold an event in a place where you do not have permission, would you not face action?' He noted that Jantar Mantar has been de-notified by the government as a designated protest site, making any demonstration there without prior permission a violation of the law.

What Happens Next

The Opposition protests signal that the SIR controversy is unlikely to die down quickly, particularly with elections in several states on the horizon. Political parties retain the right to file formal objections with the ECI over voter roll discrepancies, and the commission has maintained that its revision process follows prescribed legal procedures. Whether the Opposition escalates through formal legal channels or continues with street protests will shape the next phase of this stand-off.