Congress launches ‘Vote bachao, desh bachao’ drive to re-enrol voters deleted in SIR

The Congress on Monday announced a nationwide campaign alleging large-scale “vote chori” (theft) and pledged to help re-enrol more than 13.3 crore people whose names it says were deleted from electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). The drive, branded “Vote bachao, desh bachao” (Save your vote, save the country), will also fuel a sustained protest demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.

Announcement after top-level strategy meet

The plans were finalised at a two-hour meeting chaired by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge with party general secretaries, State in-charges and Pradesh Congress Committee chiefs at Indira Bhawan. Former party chief and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi attended the closed-door session.

Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal said the party would mobilise at the booth level to identify and reinstate voters whose names were removed during the SIR. He described the Election Commission as the “Cheating Commission of India” and added: “[Gyanesh Kumar] is not leaving, even as the entire country wants him to be removed. We are not going to allow him to sit on the chair. We will ensure that he is removed.”

Campaign architecture: from booths to national rallies

Party leaders said the effort would begin at the grassroots and build up to national-level demonstrations over the next two months:

• Booth mobilisation: Congress will deploy booth-level agents, styled as “vote rakshaks” (guardians), tasked with identifying voters “deleted unfairly” and facilitating their re-enrolment.
• Village outreach: “Village chaupals will be held in every village, where our workers will explain Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah’s modus operandi of vote chori,” Mr. Venugopal said, adding that village heads and local leaders would be invited to these gatherings.
• Block-level marches: From October 10 to 20, the party will stage marches at the block level, culminating in submissions at Sub-Divisional Magistrate offices under the “Vote bachao, Desh bachao” banner.

Planned protests and key dates

The party will also mount a series of street protests aimed at the Election Commission and the CEC:

• October 6: A protest march from Parliament to the Election Commission of India.
• November 1: A mega INDIA bloc rally at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi, with invitations extended to other Opposition parties, including the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Aam Aadmi Party, to participate.
• November 25–26: Six “Delhi Chalo” rallies from locations in Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh converging in the national capital on Constitution Day, November 26.

“Our fight is to the finish. We will keep fighting on the streets until Gyanesh [Kumar] is removed, arrested, and prosecuted,” Mr. Venugopal said.

Allegations, objectives and scale

At the core of the campaign is the party’s claim that the SIR process has led to wrongful deletions from the electoral rolls, disenfranchising voters across the country. Congress leaders said they aim to reach “more than 13.3 crore” individuals whose names were struck off and assist them with re-enrolment through their network of booth-level “vote rakshaks.”

General secretary (communication) Jairam Ramesh said the party was reaching out across the Opposition spectrum to bolster the November 1 rally. “We are inviting all the Opposition parties to be part of the November 1 rally at the Ramlila Maidan,” he said.

What was discussed in the closed-door meeting

According to people present at the meeting, Mr. Kharge pressed for an aggressive posture, reportedly telling colleagues the party should “oust the CEC now.” He also cautioned that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could deploy “distractions” as the campaign intensifies, as “they know they have been caught out,” the sources said.

Mr. Gandhi characterised the alleged “vote chori” as a citizens’ issue rather than a purely partisan one, and urged that the campaign be designed so “common people” can actively join and assert their voting rights.

Next steps and political implications

With the immediate march to the Election Commission scheduled for Tuesday and the block-level demonstrations slated for October 10–20, the Congress intends to sustain pressure through November, capping the push with coordinated “Delhi Chalo” mobilisations coinciding with Constitution Day. The party’s leadership has framed the campaign both as a remedial exercise to restore voter names to the rolls and as a test of institutional accountability, with the CEC at the centre of its demands.

Conclusion

By combining booth-level voter re-enrolment efforts with successive waves of street protests and rallies, the Congress is seeking to turn allegations of roll deletions during the SIR into a nationwide political issue. The party’s calls for CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s removal and for broader Opposition participation set up a contentious run of events through late November, with voter rights and electoral oversight likely to remain at the forefront of the debate.