India, Oct. 12 -- The campaign against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar reflects the belief that sustained public pressure can force institutional concessions. But the Election Commission is not an arm of the government, and the legality of the SIR must be tested through constitutional and judicial processes.

The events unfolding in Delhi over the past few days point to a political strategy increasingly visible in the opposition's campaign against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls: take a dispute already before the courts to the streets, and hope that public mobilisation compels the government to concede demands it would otherwise reject.

The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) began its agitation against Chief El...