Chhattisgarh

Chhattisgarh has started a special voter registration drive. This comes as protests over voter deletion during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) are going on across the country.

Chief Electoral Officer Yashwant Kumar announced the drive at a press conference held at the Raipur Election Office on Friday. He said the campaign started on October 8, based on directives from the Election Commission of India. The goal is simple. Verify voters who were left out during the earlier enrolment process and bring them into the electoral roll.

Young voters are a big focus here. First-time voters and those who have just turned 17 will be actively registered during this one-month special drive.

Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will handle the ground-level work. They will visit schools, colleges, and homes to collect Form 6. They will also set up special camps at designated places so people can submit their forms easily.

Here is the schedule. BLOs will do home visits three days a week. On the other two days, they will set up camps at polling booths. Students at schools and colleges that serve as Electoral Literacy Clubs will also be visited twice a week to collect Form 6 from eligible youth.

SIR updates in Chhattisgarh

Since the SIR process started, Chhattisgarh has already added 2,34,993 new voters. CEO Kumar pointed out that the SIR process began in 2025 with a qualifying date of January 1, 2026. Adding names and making corrections is an ongoing process, he said. No need to wait for a special window if you want your record corrected.

All collected forms will be digitised. After that, the Electoral Registration Officer will review and decide on adding names to the electoral roll.

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's two-day visit to Chhattisgarh has been postponed. The trip was planned for 7 and 8 October 2026 but

Election Commission of India has postponed Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's two-day visit to Chhattisgarh. The visit was set for October 7 and 8, 2026. A government order issued on Tuesday, October 6, said the visit was called off due to "unavoidable reasons". New dates will be shared separately.

What Led to the Postponement

The postponement comes as criticism grows over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. It also follows large opposition protests in Delhi. Around 250 people were detained at Akashvani Bhawan during a march to Election Commission's office. Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi were among those held.

Migrant Workers Still Detained in Raipur

Four migrant workers from West Bengal are still detained in Raipur. The men are Sabir Sheikh, Safikul Islam, Nasiruddin Sheikh, and Laltu Sheikh.

Police arrested them on suspicion of being Bangladeshi nationals. The reason given was that their names were deleted from electoral rolls during the SIR exercise. Police used this to question their nationality.

Their families have now gone to the Calcutta High Court. They say the men have lived in West Bengal for a long time. They were only in Chhattisgarh temporarily for work.

The court has raised doubts about keeping the men in detention. Their appeals against name deletion are still pending before the tribunal. The court pointed out that these cases have not been decided yet.

Congress leader and former cabinet minister Mohammad Akbar has raised a serious concern about nearly 25 lakh voter names being deleted from Chhattisgarh's voter lists during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process. The exact number is 24,99,823 names removed, which is almost four times the winning margin of the 2023 state Assembly elections.

Akbar pointed out that 19,13,540 voters were marked as "Shifted" or "Absent" without any personal notice or fair hearing. Many of these people were simply away for jobs, seasonal work, higher studies, or urgent personal reasons. He argued that assuming someone is permanently gone just because they were not home on a particular day is a serious blow to constitutional protections.

He also noted that since the Election Commission itself labeled these people as absent, it confirms they were denied the right to submit documents and get a proper hearing before their names were removed.

Akbar has demanded individual case-by-case reviews for all 19,13,540 voters marked "Shifted" or "Absent", written notices to every affected person, and restoration of all wrongly removed names.

BJP State Spokesperson Vijay Shanker Mishra dismissed the allegations, calling them a baseless deflection by a party that cannot accept its democratic defeat. He warned Congress to stop questioning the credibility of Election Commission of India.

The Political Standoff

Chhattisgarh chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai on Sunday gave a sharp reply to Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi over his vote chori allegations. Sai said that if Rahul Gandhi really has no trust in the Election Commission and the electoral system, he should quit Parliament right away.

Sai compared Gandhi's repeated attacks on constitutional institutions to the behaviour of a repeat offender. He called the conduct anti-national. He demanded that the Congress leader apologise to both the Election Commission and the country.

The political fight centres on the SIR of electoral rolls and reported differences within the Election Commission. Gandhi had earlier accused the BJP, RSS, and Election Commission of involvement in vote chori. He called it a crime against Indians and an attack on the Constitution. He later pushed further, accusing Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of vote chori, kanoon chori, and sanstha chori.

Election Commission responds

Election Commission has rejected claims that any split exists within the three-member poll body. Sai used this clarification to accuse Congress of spreading confusion and drama every time it loses elections. He pointed out that Congress has lost nearly 100 elections and is now taking out its frustration on constitutional institutions.

Sai also referenced the Supreme Court's May 27 judgment that confirmed the legal validity of Election Commission's SIR exercise in Bihar. The apex court had said the commission had the power to carry out the revision and had given solid reasons for it.

He also raised questions for Congress legislators in Chhattisgarh. If the party believes the electoral process itself is badly broken, Sai argued, they would have to explain their stand on representatives elected through that same system.

Nava Raipur is hosting the 32nd All India Conference of State Election Commissioners. Governor Ramen Deka opened this two-day event today. Officials from across the country are meeting to discuss ways to make local governance more clear and open to everyone.

Focusing on local governance

Participants are working on strengthening Panchayati Raj institutions and city local bodies. International experts from Princeton University are sharing ideas on democratic processes. Also, technical sessions led by experts from Hyderabad and Bengaluru will cover updates on Electronic Voting Machines. This annual gathering is a very important platform for improving election systems.

Senior Congress leader Vikas Upadhyay opposes the government plan for simultaneous national and state elections. Speaking in Raipur, he said this idea is impossible to manage across the country.

Upadhyay mentioned the huge administrative workload involved. India currently uses over 10 lakh polling stations. He believes holding all elections in one go would strain security forces and might put safety at risk. Also, he warned that the Model Code of Conduct could stop government work and stall development projects everywhere.

Concerns about regional democracy

The leader also shared worries about federalism. He argued that holding all elections at once might make voters ignore local needs in favor of national issues. This could reduce how much people can hold their regional leaders accountable.

Chhattisgarh government has announced a reshuffle involving 22 IAS officers. This change helps make work easier across different departments and districts.

Changes in assignments

Sonmani Bora is now the PS of the Urban Administration and Development Department. Kundan Kumar moves to Kanker as Collector, and Amrit Vikas Topno takes over as Collector of Mungeli. Other officers have been moved to roles in the Forest, Food, and Social Welfare departments to improve services for the public.

For a full list of these changes and official notifications, visit the state portal.

Chhattisgarh High Court clarified that sending a case to a Caste Scrutiny Committee is not required when the office that issued the document confirms it was never actually given out. Justice Amitendra Kishore Prasad ruled that a Divisional Commissioner can remove an elected official who used a fake or disowned certificate to run for a reserved seat.

Election Dispute Details

This ruling comes from a dispute in Bhilai Municipal Corporation concerning Ward No. 35. The court dismissed a petition from former Councillor Mohammad Salman, as he used a fake document. Because of this, the election of Chandan Yadav as the Councillor now stands. The court also noted that courts have limited power to get involved once an election process has started.

District authorities in Kabirdham have intensified efforts to ensure the voter list is accurate, transparent, and error-free. District Election Officer and Collector Gaurav Shivaji Isalwar, along with Electoral Registration Officer and Deputy Collector Alok Kumar Patel, conducted surprise inspections at various polling stations within the Kabirdham Municipal Council.

During the visit, officials reviewed the progress of the special intensive revision program. The Collector interacted directly with booth-level officers to assess the status of form digitization, the removal of names of deceased or migrated voters, and the correction of voter identification details. The administration aims to ensure that every eligible voter can exercise their democratic right.