4 min readOct 10, 2026 06:30 AM IST First published on: Oct 10, 2026 at 06:30 AM ISTInstitutions rarely correct themselves without pressure being brought on them to do so. The anti-corruption movement of 2011 placed the Lokpal on the statute book; anger on Delhi streets after the 2012 gangrape rewrote the law; this summer, protests forced a Union minister to resign and the government to set up a panel to reform a broken exam system. Voices raised in peaceful protest are the soundtrack of democracy. As the Cockroach Janta Party is set to return to Jantar Mantar, following mobilisations by opposition parties, this time the issue touches the very heart of the democratic compact: A citizen’s right to be counted. Troubling questions have been underlined by this newspaper’s investigation into the functioning of the Election Commission of India. They span a critical arc: From institutional integrity to the individual’s right to vote, from the conduct of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls to the manner in which Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has cast a shadow on the institution, making it hard to expect a meaningful resolution on his watch. But this time, the Opposition, which played catch-up with the CJP-led mobilisation in June-July, has framed the issue in a way that sparks questions of its own.Congress leaders, especially Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi, have seized the opportunity to hit the street. Their photo-ops atop police barricades are arguably intended to address long-running criticisms of Congress inertia and immobility. In a case of the performance narrowing the stage, these images do not include the party’s own leaders other than the Gandhi siblings, or its INDIA bloc allies. But the problem, more fundamentally, is this: The rhetoric that accompanies these scenes is of “stolen elections”, “annulment of SIR”, “going back to the ballot paper”. In other words, Congress has taken a powerful issue that cuts across the ideological spectrum, one that touches the right of every voter to shape the country of the future, to let itself off the hook for its own defeats. Congress has not lost election after election for a decade and more because of the recent SIR or the poll referee. Nor was it that some EVMs failed to count its votes everywhere, except in Kerala or Karnataka. It needs to face up to its own deepening disconnect with the people — and that is separate from, not part of, the ECI-SIR story. The SIR is a much-needed exercise in a sprawling democracy with many moving parts. It is fraught today because the clean-up has also become a cover for deleting voters without due process.AdvertisementIt would be tragic if the seminal question at hand is abbreviated to a loser’s complaint. This moment calls for answerability enforced from the erring and overreaching CEC. It calls for the BJP and its Parivar to reflect on the impact of a discredited ECI on its own electoral ambitions. It calls for the Court to demand answers from the Commission. Ultimately, it calls on citizens to assert the inviolability of their constitutionally guaranteed “adhikaar” or right to vote. In a democracy, the Opposition is best placed to amplify their voice but it should not lose sight of the fact that this issue transcends party lines, it does not belong to any one party. Only then will the calls for accountability, and appeals to CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s conscience, resonate more powerfully.