YouTuber Dhruv Rathi, known for exposing the controversial actions of the Modi government on his channel, has taken his activism to the streets this time. Rathi has actively participated in the Kakaroch Janata Party (CJP)’s ‘Jail Bharo Andolan’ (Imprisonment Protest), which began on Saturday demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Through his YouTube channel, he outlined his reasons for joining the movement. In the video, Rathi used strong language directed at Gyanesh Kumar, stating that the situation is intolerable if he does not resign.
Similarly, Rathi has been actively involved in the citizen society’s protest held at Freedom Park in Bengaluru, accusing the Election Commission of India of losing impartiality and undermining the fundamental voting rights of the public. During this process, Delhi police detained Rathi on Saturday. However, his pre-arrest materials shared via YouTube and social media have already gained significant traction across India.
Rathi has alleged that during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) campaign conducted by the Election Commission of India, which aims to remove bogus and deceased voters, even genuine, living voters were mistakenly removed from the electoral rolls. He reported meeting numerous affected citizens in Karnataka and listening to their grievances. He presented three primary reasons and pieces of evidence demanding the immediate resignation of Gyanesh Kumar.
First, in West Bengal, prior to the elections, around 70,000 genuine voters’ names were deliberately removed from the voter lists through the SIR process. After the elections concluded, the names of all these voters were restored to the list. Rathi questioned, “If these voters were dead or illegal immigrants, how did their names return to the list immediately after the election? This is a direct corruption affecting the election’s integrity.”
Secondly, after the Election Commission removed approximately 6.5 million names from Bihar’s voter list, the Supreme Court forbade the commission from publishing the list until further intervention. Conversely, in Uttar Pradesh, over 1.4 million new voters were mysteriously added recently. Additionally, when attempts were made to add eligible voters in Goa, the software reportedly did not even provide the option to do so.
Thirdly, Rathi contends that while India’s Election Commission has long been regarded as an independent and impartial constitutional body, its credibility has been significantly undermined during Gyanesh Kumar’s tenure. He emphasized that extensive manipulation of the voter list has occurred under Kumar’s leadership, and maintaining such a figure in office is detrimental to democracy.
Dhruv Rathi and fellow protesters have formally presented three key demands to Gyanesh Kumar and the government: First – the immediate resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to restore the Election Commission’s reputation and dignity. Second – the appointment of a new Chief Election Commissioner should be conducted impartially and by mutual consensus between the Prime Minister and opposition leaders. Third – the current SIR process, involved in widespread manipulation of the voter list, must be immediately revoked, reinstating the previous voter lists and ensuring full transparency in removing deceased and duplicate voters.
