Karnataka's Deputy Chief Minister, D.K. Shivakumar, holds that post within the state government. Shivakumar, accompanied by Congress legislators from the state, was scheduled to take part in the party's New Delhi demonstration on Monday, October 12, directed at the Election Commission of India over its Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.

Protesters gathering at the rally were set to call for Gyanesh Kumar to step down from his post as Chief Election Commissioner, pointing to what they described as irregularities in how the voter-list revision was carried out.

At a press briefing in Bengaluru on Sunday, Shivakumar indicated that the Congress party intended to hold its own rally under the AICC banner, separate from the demonstrations that certain INDIA bloc partners had already joined at the invitation of other organisations. Party leaders in Karnataka's Congress bloc contended that voter rolls had been stripped of names belonging to people entitled to cast ballots, placing the integrity of democratic access at risk.

Shivakumar announced plans to travel to Delhi to contest what he described as an infringement on voters' rights, while also calling on the central government to permit demonstrators access to the Chief Election Commissioner. Karnataka legislators affiliated with Congress were set to participate in the Delhi protest, Shivakumar indicated, though the party planned to send a modest rather than sizeable delegation to the capital.

His stated position centred on protecting the voting rights of Dalits, minorities, and backward-class communities, with the removal of qualified voters from electoral rolls forming a core point of his objection. Shivakumar pointed to the removal of voters' names from electoral rolls as a matter that put fair democratic participation into question.

Demonstrations against the Special Intensive Revision exercise formed part of a broader Opposition-led effort that also raised questions about electoral conduct. Calls for the Election Commission to answer for its conduct, along with pressure on Gyanesh Kumar to step down from his post, came from Congress party leaders.

Karnataka Congress, Shivakumar noted, was running its own distinct programme rather than folding into another organisation's campaign. Various Opposition parties and civil society organisations took part in rallies across Delhi, even as police had placed restrictions on gatherings in the vicinity of Jantar Mantar.

A protest gathering in Karnataka had set the stage for a subsequent demonstration planned for Delhi. Cabinet ministers joined Shivakumar in occupying the Chief Electoral Officer's premises in Bengaluru on the first day of October.

Protesters assembled around allegations that Form 7 applications had been used as part of an organised effort to remove eligible voters from electoral rolls. A formal request from Karnataka Congress called for both a criminal case to be filed and a full investigation into the allegations.

Deletion of a name from an electoral roll, where qualifying conditions are met, falls within the purpose that Form 7 was designed to serve. Questions about whether the voter-removal process was being applied to people with a legitimate right to be on the electoral roll were put forward by the Congress party.

At the heart of the dispute lies a broader contest over the SIR process, through which electoral rolls are examined and updated. Rival parties contended that certain voters with valid standing to cast ballots risked being left out of the process, a concern the Election Commission did not accept.

Objections to the conditions placed on protesters in Delhi on October 10 — among them the reported cutting of internet access — were raised by Shivakumar. Doubts about whether those measures aligned with India's democratic traditions were raised by him, alongside a call for the Prime Minister to account for the circumstances under which they were taken.

Among his objections was the holding of protesters and elected officials in custody, with his position being that the freedom to gather and demonstrate without interference was a right belonging to all citizens. Shivakumar called on the Centre to arrange a dialogue between the demonstrators and the Chief Election Commissioner, rather than obstructing their ability to voice their grievances.

In a written reply, the Karnataka leader addressed an open letter put forward by 124 retired civil servants, who had stood by the Election Commission and maintained that any claims of vote-rigging must be backed by credible evidence before they can be taken seriously. While noting that the officers had carried out their responsibilities, Shivakumar argued that the Congress demonstration spoke to broader public grievances rather than the narrow interests of one party.

Opposition parties brought their campaign against the SIR exercise and the conduct of elections to Delhi, folding the city into a broader coordinated push across multiple fronts. Demands for accountability from the Election Commission, as well as action on electoral roll concerns, came from Rahul Gandhi and other Opposition figures.