Indian police used tear gas and water cannons on Friday to disperse members of the opposition Congress party during nationwide demonstrations calling for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

The protesters accuse the Election Commission of manipulating voter rolls and have demanded that Kumar step down. Congress supporters and other opposition groups staged demonstrations in multiple parts of India, with clashes reported as protesters attempted to push through police barricades.

In Chandigarh, in northwestern India, police used water cannons after protesters climbed onto buses and attempted to breach barricades. Congress leader Amarinder Singh Raja accused authorities of allowing what he described as widespread “vote theft.”

Protests were also reported in at least a dozen of India’s 28 states. Demonstrators shouted slogans against Kumar, displayed posters demanding his arrest and, in one location, burned an effigy depicting Kumar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In New Delhi, hundreds of protesters climbed police barricades and confronted a person wearing a mask depicting Kumar.

The demonstrations followed a report published Wednesday by The Indian Express that Kumar’s deputies had questioned him over changes to voter lists that opposition groups say could benefit Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi cited the report while renewing his accusations against the election authorities. He called for Kumar’s resignation and alleged that irregularities in voter registration were taking place across the country.

The Election Commission rejected the allegations, saying disagreements among officials were normal within any institution and that its actions had been conducted lawfully.

The BJP also dismissed the report and accused opposition parties of conducting what it described as a smear campaign. The party has denied allegations that it worked with the Election Commission to manipulate voter lists.

Kumar, a former civil servant who was appointed to lead the Election Commission by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has not publicly commented on the allegations described in the report.

The protests have added to political tensions ahead of several important state elections scheduled for next year. Among them are elections in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, and Gujarat, Modi’s home state, both of which are governed by the BJP.

A youth movement known as the “cockroach” movement, which says it has millions of supporters and previously helped force India’s education minister to resign in July, has also threatened to stage nationwide protests on October 2 if Kumar does not resign by Saturday.

The political dispute comes ahead of India’s next parliamentary election, which is scheduled for 2029.

SOURCE: Reuters, September 25, 2026.