India opposition coalition sends joint letter to Chief Justice over electoral roll revisions

On 30 June 2026, a coalition of 23 Indian political parties and independent MP Kapil Sibal sent a joint letter to Chief Justice of India Surya Kant. The letter, signed by leaders from the Congress, Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, National Conference, NCP(SP) and others, raised concerns about the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and asked the judiciary to intervene.

The opposition cited the removal of roughly six crore names from voter lists nationwide – including about 65 lakh in Bihar – and alleged that the SIR process is being misused to affect election outcomes. They invoked the “SURE” (Solidarity, Unity, Resistance) framework and referred to examples from several states. The government, represented by Home Minister Amit Shah, maintains the exercise targets illegal infiltrators and aims to improve roll accuracy. A recent Supreme Court judgment upheld the Election Commission’s authority to carry out SIR and dismissed objections.

The joint action followed a June 8 meeting of the INDIA bloc, attended by 21 parties and one independent MP, where the decision to write to the chief justice was taken. The letter also notes the participation of the Aam Aadmi Party and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which had earlier stayed away from the meeting but later joined the initiative.