ReutersTens of thousands of people have gathered in India’s capital Delhi for a major opposition rally demanding the resignation of the country’s chief election commissioner over a controversial revision of voter lists.
The rally, organised by the opposition INDIA bloc and led by Rahul Gandhi’s Congress party, has brought together some of India’s most prominent politicians at Ramlila Maidan, a sprawling ground in central Delhi.
They arrived at the venue on Sunday after travelling in jeeps through crowds of cheering supporters.
Among those attending were Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, as well as Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav.
Opposition parties accuse chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of using the exercise to manipulate elections. Both the BJP and the Election Commission deny the allegations.
Protesters chanted “Save the vote, save the country” and “Vote thief, give up power”, while others sang and danced to patriotic Bollywood songs. Thousands of police and paramilitary personnel were deployed around the venue, with barricades and traffic restrictions in place.
The Gen Z-led pressure group Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has also pledged support, though its leaders have yet to be seen at the event.
Among those protesting on Sunday was Isha, a development sector professional from Delhi, who said she feared Indian democracy was under threat.
“We don’t even know if this is a people’s mandate or a stolen mandate,” she told the BBC.
Deepro Guha, a lawyer from Delhi, said he was concerned about the way the revision had been carried out.
“It’s important because voting is the basis of democracy. If people’s names are removed without any explanation, there is a problem,” he said.
The exercise, known as the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), is intended to remove people who have died, moved away from their registered addresses or are otherwise ineligible to vote, according to the ECI.
But the opposition alleges that eligible voters are being deliberately removed to benefit the governing BJP.
The controversy intensified in September after The Indian Express newspaper reported that Kumar had made key decisions relating to the exercise despite objections from the two other election commissioners on more than a dozen occasions.
The Election Commission said differences of opinion were normal in any institution and did not affect its functioning.
Ahead of the event, Gandhi described the opposition’s campaign as a fight against “the demolition of Indian democracy” and said millions of people were being disenfranchised.
On Saturday, leaders of the INDIA bloc also staged a symbolic impeachment of Kumar at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence in Delhi. The INDIA bloc – short for Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance – is a group of opposition parties formed in 2023 to take on the governing BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.
The mock parliamentary session, presided over by former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, saw leaders accuse the election chief of “conspiring to steal elections” and deliberately removing 130 million voters from electoral rolls.
The proceedings were purely symbolic and had no legal standing. Under Indian law, the chief election commissioner can only be removed through a formal parliamentary process.
Modi has not directly commented on the mock impeachment, but at public rallies on Friday and Saturday he accused opposition parties of trying to create chaos and undermining the dignity of the constitution.
Congress/XDelhi police have given permission to hold Sunday’s rally, but it comes with several conditions. Media reports say the rally must end by 5pm, CCTV cameras must be installed at the venue and no marches will be allowed outside the designated protest site.
The rally has also divided opinion among traders in Chandni Chowk, one of Delhi’s oldest and busiest markets, located less than a kilometre from Ramlila Maidan.
Earlier this week, a group of traders said the protest could hurt business during the festive season, coming just a week before Diwali.
But a rival group of traders said they supported Gandhi’s rally and criticised the BJP for taking out a march through the market on Thursday, saying that disrupted the festive season more.
Rekha Gupta/XAhead of the event, Gandhi had appealed to people to turn up in large numbers. “Don’t worry about the police, don’t worry about lathis [batons] – the BJP will not have the guts to try any of their antics,” he wrote on X.
His comments come amid growing concerns about the policing of recent protests in the capital.
On 10 October, thousands of security personnel were deployed and large parts of the city were shut down to thwart protests called by the CJP against CEC Gyanesh Kumar.
All of the top CJP leaders were detained and many demonstrators were beaten and dragged through the streets to break up their protests. BBC reporters covering demonstrations saw police dragging away protesters and using batons on some of them.
Last month, Gandhi led tens of thousands of protesters in a march from Connaught Place in central Delhi to the Supreme Court, seeking the CEC’s resignation.
“The march was just the trailer,” a party leader told the BBC, adding that “Sunday’s rally will be several times bigger than that”.
