Madhya Pradesh

Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Thursday criticized Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for repeatedly questioning the Election Commission over electoral losses. Yadav said the party should look at itself instead of finding fault with the democratic process.

Same rules, different results

He pointed out a simple contradiction. If Congress doubts the Election Commission's process, how does it explain its own wins in Kerala and Himachal Pradesh? Both states held elections through the exact same democratic and constitutional framework, he argued.

Assembly Opposition Leader Umang Singhar hit back. He called the central government authoritarian and accused the Election Commission of acting like a BJP agent. Singhar said Rahul Gandhi is standing up for democracy and the right to vote for more than half the country's population. The government should listen, he added.

Congress workers in Madhya Pradesh held Black Day protests across the state on Wednesday. These protests took place at block and district levels. It was part of a nationwide call by the party leadership.

State Party Leader Speaks

State President Jitu Patwari said the party is fighting to protect people's voting rights. He alleges that the votes of 13 crore people have been stolen. Patwari demanded the resignation of Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. He also stated that democracy cannot survive without an impartial Election Commission.

Protests turned tense in Bhopal, where some workers climbed the Ambedkar statue. In Indore, an effigy of Gyanesh Kumar was burnt. Similar demonstrations were held in Sagar and other districts.

Chief Minister Mohan Yadav criticized the Congress party. He questioned their distrust in the election process. Yadav asked what the meaning of their victory in Kerala was if the system is flawed.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has hit out at Congress, saying the party should look inward instead of blaming the Election Commission for its recent poll losses. He said Congress needs to fix its own organisation and leadership.

Yadav questioned why the Opposition does not trust the poll panel. He pointed out that Congress itself won elections in Kerala and Himachal Pradesh under the same system. He asked what a Congress win in Kerala means if the process is really flawed.

His comments came as state Congress prepared for a foot march in Bhopal in support of Rahul Gandhi. This follows the detention of Gandhi and other INDIA bloc leaders during protests in New Delhi over alleged irregularities in electoral rolls and the Special Intensive Revision exercise.

Yadav also said India is the world's largest democracy and elections are run under a constitutional framework. He believes electoral defeats should not be used to question constitutional institutions.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Thursday sharply criticised Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. He accused Gandhi of trying to spread confusion by blaming the Election Commission for his party's repeated losses.

CM Yadav said this behavior does not suit a democratic country like India. He said the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha is trying to lower the Prime Minister's dignity with his political tactics.

"It is surprising that Rahul Gandhi lost three straight Lok Sabha elections and faced setbacks in various states under his leadership. He is still trying to shift the blame for these losses onto the Election Commission," CM Yadav said. He asked Rahul Gandhi to think about his conduct. He suggested the Congress should focus on building its organisation instead of blaming constitutional bodies.

The Chief Minister also pointed out something important. If Congress has been out of Tamil Nadu for 50 years and out of West Bengal for 30 to 40 years, it is because of its own weaknesses. He hoped the Congress party will understand this and stop such tactics.

Report by TNM Bureau with inputs from ANI

Congress leaders in Madhya Pradesh held a protest outside the Election Commission office in Bhopal on Tuesday. The protest came after senior party leaders were detained in Delhi.

Party president Jitu Patwari, LoP Umang Singhar and senior leader Digvijaya Singh were among those who sat in protest. They burned an effigy of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and shouted slogans against CEC Kumar, PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.

What sparked the protest

The protest started after Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and around 300 Congress MPs were detained by Delhi police from Akashvani Bhawan. They were on their way to meet the CEC over what they called voter fraud.

Patwari said BJP has formed governments in several states by stealing votes. He also said the Congress will burn effigies of PM Modi and CEC Gyanesh Kumar in every district of Madhya Pradesh. The agitation, he added, will continue until Gyanesh Kumar steps down.

Digvijaya Singh made a stronger claim. He said the Election Commission now works like a BJP outfit. He also pointed to Rahul Gandhi's earlier work on presenting evidence of vote theft in a parliamentary constituency in Karnataka.

LoP Umang Singhar called the protest a fight for the Constitution and the right to vote. He said democracy and institutional checks are being weakened under the current government.

The dharna is part of the INDIA bloc's broader Save Democracy campaign against the ECI. This campaign has been going on during a row over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, which is meant to update voter lists.

An RTI query has found something troubling in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. Over 1.36 lakh voter deletions carried out between January 5 and October 15, 2022, have no digital records to back them up. Multiple constituency election offices gave the same blunt answer when asked for proof: "Record not maintained."

Former Indore councillor Dilip Kaushal filed the RTI application on May 23, 2025. He asked for details about deletions made through the Garud app and ERO Net system. His request also covered contractor agreements, backups, and related correspondence from Electoral Registration Officers.

Officers in Depalpur, Indore-1 through Indore-5, Rau, and Sanwer all gave essentially the same reply. No digital records had been kept. The Indore-1 officer said there were no Election Commission instructions at the time to preserve such records.

The numbers are big. Indore-4 alone saw 28,391 deletions while Indore-5 recorded 28,091. Along with Rau's 21,346, these three constituencies account for nearly 57 percent of the total deletions cited in Kaushal's application.

Madhya Pradesh High Court is now involved. Justice Sandeep N Bhatt, in a September 17 order, told the State Information Commission to decide Kaushal's pending second appeal on its merits and preferably within 45 days. That appeal has been pending since January 30, 2026.

Kaushal also wrote to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi on July 31, 2025. He raised concerns about voter-deletion records across all 230 Assembly constituencies in the state.

When names are removed from voter lists through a digital system, who keeps track of why and how? That is the simple but critical question this case puts on the table. The bigger debate about electoral transparency comes down to this.

BJP Rajya Sabha member Rajneesh Agrawal hit back at opposition leaders who are questioning Election Commission and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. He said the attacks are just a cover for their own election losses.

Talking to reporters in Indore on Friday, Agrawal said it is not right to blame the Commission or other constitutional bodies without facts and logic. He claimed the people criticising EC are the ones who lost a string of elections. The idea is simple, he added, shift attention away and save face before the public.

He refused to comment on the protest held in Mumbai demanding Kumar's resignation. He called the opposition's narrative against the ruling BJP one based on lies.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh separately argued that the non-SIR Form 6 route offered to voters is misleading. The Special Summary Revision has been frozen since 2024, so no non-SIR voter roll is being published where a voter can get added through that form.

Madhya Pradesh Congress workers hit the streets on Wednesday demanding action against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. The statewide agitation saw demonstrations across multiple districts.

In Gwalior, things got tense fast. Protesters broke through barricades near the collectorate and pushed towards the premises. In Indore, police pulled personnel from four police stations to keep order as Congress workers marched to the collectorate and raised slogans.

Ratlam saw its own drama. Workers carried an effigy of Gyanesh Kumar on a handcart and set it ablaze near Dalumodi Bazaar Square. Police tried to douse the fire, leading to a brief scuffle. Black balloons were released too.

These protests follow a bigger demonstration in Bhopal on September 28, led by state president Jitu Patwari. Water cannons were used there and several protesters were detained.

The Congress has been demanding Gyanesh Kumar's resignation, alleging irregularities and lack of transparency in the voter list revision process. The Election Commission, for its part, says its decisions are unanimous and taken in accordance with the law.

I think this issue is far from over. The party has already signalled wider protests beyond Madhya Pradesh, and the SIR exercise is turning into a major political flashpoint.

Congress workers in Madhya Pradesh are making their stand loud and clear. On Monday, thousands of party workers marched to the Chief Electoral Officer's office in Bhopal to protest the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.

The protest started as a focused objection. Now it has turned into a much bigger political fight. The party is openly questioning the credibility of the whole election process, taking direct aim at Election Commission.

Clearly, Congress is setting the tone early in Madhya Pradesh. The size of the march in Bhopal shows the party is serious about pushing back on this issue and making it count with voters.

Congress workers in Bhopal held a big protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Monday. They want him to resign, saying the voting process has problems.

The protesters walked from Madhya Pradesh Congress office towards the Election Commission office. Police stopped them at Board Office Square. Water cannons were used to push back the crowd when they tried to cross barricades.

Congress leaders speak out

Madhya Pradesh Congress president Jitu Patwari said, "Narendra Modi, Gyanesh Kumar, Election Commission and Amit Shah have stolen election mandates in the country, stolen democracy in the country." He also said the protest is about protecting democracy, voter rights and the Constitution.

Leader of Opposition Umang Singhar said Gyanesh Kumar was involved in "vote chori" and that Congress will keep protesting. Patwari added that within two days, calls for Gyanesh Kumar's arrest will be made in every district of the state.

Police let the protesters go after they offered to be arrested. Congress says this fight will continue.

Madhya Pradesh Cabinet Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya is facing criticism after making a comment about a female councillor's weight. During a public event for infrastructure in Indore, the minister told councillor Sandhya Yadav she had gained weight when she walked up to the microphone.

Public reaction to the incident

A video of the moment spread online. Opposition leaders, such as AICC media coordinator Neelabh Shukla, spoke out against the remark. They say the comment shows a lack of respect for women in public roles, which goes against the ruling party's stated support for women's dignity.

Election authorities postponed the by-election for the Tikamgarh Municipal Council president seat. This decision stopped the nomination process that was supposed to start today, September 8.

Madhya Pradesh State Election Commission issued an order, so candidates and political parties are waiting for a new schedule. The plan to hold voting on September 29 is cancelled. Local officials confirmed this municipal bypoll is on hold, but rural panchayat elections will go ahead as planned.

Background on the vacancy

The seat became vacant after the disqualification of former president Abdul Gaffar because of financial problems. Deputy Collector Anjali Sharma is currently in charge of the council. Everyone is waiting for the commission to share new dates for the nomination and voting process.