{
  "id": 10537777,
  "title": "SIR row: Congress holds protest across Maharashtra seeking Gyanesh Kumar’s removal",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/28/sir-row-congress-holds-protest-across-maharashtra-seeking-gyanesh",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-28T21:19:10.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Hindu",
    "slug": "the-hindu",
    "url": "https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/maharashtra/sir-row-congress-holds-protest-across-maharashtra-seeking-gyanesh-kumars-removal/article71520317.ece"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "On September 28, 2026, the Congress party intensified its protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in Maharashtra, demanding his removal and arrest. Protesters held demonstrations in various districts, including Pune, Nagpur, Nashik, Kolhapur, Solapur, Thane, Amravati, and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, submitting memoranda to district collectors. The demonstrations were spurred by an Indian Express investigation revealing that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised formal objections 14 times in the past 10 months regarding electoral roll decisions taken without their knowledge or approval. The Congress party argued that these internal objections supported their claims of irregularities in electoral roll revisions under Kumar's tenure, which they alleged benefited the ruling BJP. The party also cited the deletion of over 13 crore names from draft electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process across 30 states and Union Territories. Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Uddhav Thackeray called for action against Kumar, with protests extending to 30 districts across Maharashtra.",
  "summary": "According to the Maharashtra Congress, demonstrations were held outside district collectorates across the State, including in Pune, Nagpur, Nashik, Kolhapur, Solapur, Thane, Amravati and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "The Hindu",
        "title": "Congress holds protest against CEC in Vijayapura and Belagavi",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/28/congress-holds-protest-against-cec-in-vijayapura-and-belagavi",
        "published": "2026-09-28T18:11:47.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}