For the first time since becoming the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Gyanesh Kumar did not attend any publicized official event or make a public appearance in the month of October, 2026. This was understood after a review of publicly available media reports, announcements and government press releases.
Gyanesh Kumar, a retired IAS officer of the Kerala cadre, had assumed charge as the 26th CEC of India on February 2, 2025.
His scheduled visit to Chhattisgarh on October 7 and 8, 2026 was postponed. He was expected to visit temples in Dantewada and Kabirdham, as well as the Chitrakoot waterfalls. A notice issued by the Chief Electoral Officer, Chhattisgarh, in the first week of last month said Kumar's event was postponed 'due to unavoidable reasons'.
The event was to be held while student organisations and opposition parties had started an agitation demanding his resignation in the wake of alleged irregularities in the electoral rolls.
The protests, initially centered around New Delhi, started in the wake of an Indian Express report that said the other two Election Commissioners in the ECI formally objected 14 times to Kumar's decisions, claiming procedural irregularities.
The opposition INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) bloc had carried out a protest march to the ECI's office on October 6.
Kumar did not attend any other official event since the postponement of the event in Chhattisgarh.
On October 31, the INDIA bloc hosted a symbolic "public impeachment" of CEC Kumar, accusing him of deleting votes to steal elections and demanding that he be tried in court for treason and jailed.
The SIR (Special Intensive Revision) issue is related to mass voter deletions and alleged disenfranchisement. According to multiple reports, over 13.39 crore names were flagged across three phases of the SIR.