Bengaluru: Actor-activist Prakash Raj and YouTuber Dhruv Rathee joined CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke at a protest in Bengaluru on Thursday against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, with demonstrators demanding his resignation over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

The protest was held at Freedom Park, where women, students and others gathered in large numbers. Organisers described the event as a “people’s tribunal” for those allegedly affected by the SIR exercise across Karnataka.

Protesters demanded that the electoral roll revision exercise be scrapped and that Gyanesh Kumar step down. Slogans including “Error 404 – Name Not Found”, “It’s done bro, resign sir” and “Don’t erase us, hear us” were displayed on posters at the venue.

Some protesters also raised slogans alleging “vote theft” and saying “dictatorship will not be tolerated”. Posters featuring freedom fighters Bhagat Singh and Subhash Chandra Bose were also displayed, along with one carrying the slogan “Grand Theft Democracy”.

Organisers said the protest would be followed by a “Chappal protest” in solidarity with women.
Mujibur Rehman, a Bengaluru-based software engineer who attended the protest, alleged that his name had been deleted from the electoral rolls. He said he was unaware of who had submitted the Form 7 application seeking deletion of his name.

“It is our democratic right. We have been robbed of our right to vote. We have to be together to save democracy, because I have lost my own vote,” he said.
Police said security arrangements had been tightened at the venue to prevent any untoward incident.