Solidarity with India’s Left and Democratic Forces in the Struggle for Free and Fair Elections
The Communist Party of Britain sends solidarity to the Communists, left progressive forces and students in India facing brutal state repression in their struggle to defend the democratic rights of all India’s citizens and uphold the integrity of the electoral system.
The scenes from India on Saturday (10 October 2026) show Communist Party of India (Marxist) CPI(M) General Secretary, Comrade M.A. Baby and other prominent leaders including Comrade Pinarayi Vijayan, Comrade John Brittas, Comrade Aishe Ghosh and Comrade Tapan Sen, being attacked and detained by the Delhi Police who also detained in custody the full central committee of CPI(M) during a peaceful march to Delhi’s central protest location, Jantar Mantar.
The mass protest demanded the dismissal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, the immediate halt of the ‘SIR’ Process and restoration of voting rights to all voters who have been wrongfully excluded.
The so-called “special intensive revision (SIR) process has led to millions of names being deleted from electoral rolls, depriving Indian citizens of their right to vote. In West Bengal Muslims and other minorities, who do not vote for PM Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), were stripped of their voting rights. The Indian Express newspaper has exposed multiple irregularities in the SIR process, and more than a dozen internal objections that were unilaterally overruled by India’s Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Opposition parties led by CPI(M), the ‘Cockroach movement’ and the Student Federation of India are calling for Kumar’s resignation.
The right to vote and express one’s political opinion is integral to democracy. The right-wing BJP government’s attempt to erase millions of voters from the electoral roll and suppress opposition parties, amounts to a neo-fascist assault on India’s democracy itself.
The issues raised by the protesters concern the transparency and democratic functioning of the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the universal adult franchise. Any system that makes the right to vote dependent on opaque, centrally controlled processes undermines public confidence in the electoral system. The right to vote in India was won by the struggle of the working people and the vanguard of the masses. The CPI(M) has stated that India’s democratic and Left forces cannot allow democracy to be corroded and handed over to fascist forces.
According to the CPI(M), public confidence in the independence and credibility of the ECI has never been so low. The CPI(M) has called for the Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, to be held accountable for manipulating the system and eroding people’s confidence in the institution.
CPI(M) leaders have also called for Delhi Police and the state machinery to be exposed for their violent attacks on democratic voices struggling to defend India’s Constitution.
The Communist Party of Britain stands in firm solidarity with our comrades in India and upholds their fight in defence of people’s democracy.
Communist Party of Britain
12th October 2026
ENDS