Prakash Raj, Dhruv Rathee and Abhijeet Dipke join hands during the high-profile CJP protest at Bengaluru’s Freedom Park. (Img: X)
Bengaluru: The Freedom Park in this state capital turned into a major political flashpoint on Thursday as actor-activist Prakash Raj, YouTuber Dhruv Rathee and CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke joined a protest against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.
The protesters demanded that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls be scrapped and called for Kumar’s resignation, alleging voter-list irregularities and wrongful deletion of names. The high-profile participation of Raj and Rathee has pushed the Bengaluru protest into the national spotlight.
A large crowd of protesters, including women, students, activists and civil society members, gathered at Freedom Park for the CJP-organised demonstration. The event was presented as a People’s Tribunal aimed at hearing the experiences of people who claimed to have been affected by the SIR exercise across Karnataka.
Prakash Raj, Dhruv Rathee and Abhijeet Dipke appeared together at the protest as demonstrators raised slogans against the Election Commission and demanded action over the electoral-roll revision.
The venue was filled with posters highlighting concerns about voter deletions, electoral rights and democratic accountability. Messages referring to missing voter names, alleged vote theft and demands for Gyanesh Kumar to step down were prominently displayed.
Posters featuring freedom fighters Bhagat Singh and Subhas Chandra Bose were also seen at the venue, while another poster described the controversy as Grand Theft Democracy.
The Special Intensive Revision, or SIR, of electoral rolls has become a major political flashpoint, with Opposition parties and civil society groups questioning the process and raising concerns about the exclusion of eligible voters.
The CJP has alleged that people who continue to live at their existing addresses have found their names missing from draft electoral rolls. Some participants at the Bengaluru event claimed they had been marked as shifted or absent despite continuing to reside at the same locations.
The People’s Tribunal was organised to put these individual experiences before the gathering and turn voter-list complaints into a wider public campaign.
The Election Commission and the BJP have rejected allegations of deliberate voter-list manipulation, while the broader SIR controversy continues to trigger political confrontation.
Prakash Raj made it clear that the protest was not only about removing Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The actor-activist argued that replacing one official would not resolve the larger dispute because another person could take over the post. According to the protesters, their primary demand is the complete withdrawal of SIR.
Raj alleged that the exercise had raised serious questions about citizens’ voting rights and dignity. He also claimed that vulnerable sections, including tribal communities, poor people, Muslims and other minorities, could be affected by voter deletions.
He urged protesters to maintain peace and said the campaign should continue until the SIR process is withdrawn. Abhijeet Dipke Escalates Attack On Election Commission
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke accused the Election Commission of undermining democratic rights through the voter-list revision process. The organisation claimed that some people who attended the Bengaluru tribunal had been removed from the draft rolls despite being alive and residing at their registered addresses.
The allegations made at the People’s Tribunal have added a human angle to the wider SIR controversy, shifting the debate from political speeches to the experiences of individual voters who say they could be affected by changes to electoral rolls.
For the CJP, the demand now extends beyond the resignation of the CEC to a wider campaign over voter rights, electoral transparency and accountability.
Dhruv Rathee’s participation brought another major social-media dimension to the protest. Rathee criticised what he described as a lack of transparency and accountability in the SIR process and presented the agitation as a campaign to protect democratic rights rather than an attempt at regime change.
He also released a report examining alleged irregularities across 100 polling stations in Karnataka, adding further attention to the issue of voter-list revision. His appearance alongside Prakash Raj and Dipke quickly became one of the biggest talking points from the Bengaluru protest, particularly among social-media audiences following the ongoing SIR controversy.
The Bengaluru protest comes against the backdrop of growing Opposition mobilisation against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the SIR exercise. The controversy has also intensified following reports raising questions about disagreements within the Election Commission over aspects of the voter-roll revision process.
The wider political battle has now moved beyond Parliament and press conferences, with protests being organised in multiple cities and prominent public figures joining demonstrations. The dispute has raised broader questions about electoral-roll accuracy, voter inclusion, due process, institutional accountability and public trust in India’s election machinery.
The CJP has announced that the Bengaluru People’s Tribunal will be followed by a Chappal Protest in solidarity with women. Organisers have linked the planned demonstration to allegations made by women journalists regarding sexual harassment during a protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar.
The move is expected to further expand the CJP’s campaign beyond the SIR issue and connect it with the larger debate over treatment of protesters and women at political demonstrations.
Thursday’s Bengaluru protest is the latest in a series of demonstrations organised by the CJP against Gyanesh Kumar. The organisation had earlier held a major protest at Mumbai’s Shivaji Park, where veteran actors Shabana Azmi and Naseeruddin Shah and singer-composer Vishal Dadlani were among those associated with the event.
The CJP has also announced plans for another protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on October 10, signalling that the confrontation over SIR and the CEC is far from over.
Police made security arrangements at Freedom Park as the crowd gathered for the demonstration. Officials were deployed to prevent any untoward incident during the protest. The Bengaluru gathering has now become one of the most visible public protests against the SIR exercise, with the participation of Prakash Raj and Dhruv Rathee giving the campaign a major boost on social media.
The larger issue, however, goes beyond one protest or one official. The SIR controversy is increasingly becoming a national debate over who remains on the electoral rolls, how voter deletions are carried out and how much transparency citizens can expect from the institutions responsible for conducting elections.
