Guwahati: Actor-activist Prakash Raj, YouTuber Dhruv Rathee and Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke led a protest at Freedom Park in Bengaluru on Thursday against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, with protesters demanding his ouster over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

A large number of protesters, including women and students, gathered at the venue, raising slogans against the SIR exercise and demanding that it be scrapped.

The protest was organised as a “people’s tribunal” for those who organisers said had been affected by the SIR exercise in Karnataka. Organisers said it would be followed by a “Chappal protest” in solidarity with women.

Dipke accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “murdering democracy and vote theft” and said the protests would continue until Kumar resigned.

He alleged that voter deletions under the SIR were aimed at disenfranchising people opposed to the BJP and accused the Prime Minister and the Election Commission of undermining democracy.

Rathee, meanwhile, raised questions over changes in electoral rolls in West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Goa, saying the issue concerned the voting rights of citizens and was not about supporting any political party.

Addressing the gathering, Rathee urged BJP supporters to also consider the issue as one concerning their right to vote. He questioned the deletion and subsequent restoration of around 70 lakh names in West Bengal, asking why the names were removed before the elections and later added back.

He also questioned the deletion of more than 40 lakh names in Bihar, asking why, according to him, the Election Commission did not make the names public until the Supreme Court directed it to do so.

In Uttar Pradesh, Rathee questioned the addition of more than 14 lakh names to the electoral rolls, asking who the newly added voters were. He also raised questions over Goa, claiming that electoral registration officers (ERO) wanted to add names but the Election Commission did not allow it.

“These are my three claims and questions,” Rathee said, referring to the electoral roll changes in the four states.

Rathee said the protest was not intended to support any political party but to defend citizens’ voting rights. He described those participating in the protest as “the biggest nationalists”.

Posters at the venue carried slogans including “Error 404 – Name Not Found”, “It’s done bro, resign sir”, “Don’t erase us, hear us”, “Dictatorship will not be tolerated”, “Vote theft” and “Gyanesh Kumar, gaddi leave your chair”.

Posters featuring freedom fighters Bhagat Singh and Subhas Chandra Bose were also displayed, along with one carrying the slogan “Grand Theft Democracy”.

Police said tight security arrangements had been put in place at the venue to prevent any untoward incident.

The Bengaluru protest came amid continuing opposition protests against the SIR exercise and demands for Kumar’s removal. INDIA bloc MPs also staged a protest in Delhi on Wednesday, with several MPs, including Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, detained while attempting to reach Jantar Mantar.

Separately, the Indian Youth Congress has moved the Delhi High Court against the police refusal to allow its proposed Jantar Mantar protest against Kumar. The court is scheduled to hear the plea on Friday.

At least two fresh FIRs were also registered against Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, in connection with Wednesday’s INDIA bloc protest in central Delhi.