India's opposition gathers in Delhi to demand election chief quit over voter rolls
Congress and its allies want Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to resign after a voter list revision removed more than 130 million names.
Supporters of India's opposition began arriving at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan on Sunday for a rally demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, as security personnel with batons, shields and riot control vehicles surrounded the site, CNA and The Straits Times reported, citing Reuters.
Estimates of the crowd vary. The BBC said tens of thousands of people were expected and that leaders were claiming a million could attend, while Reuters reported the opposition expected hundreds of thousands. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is to lead a march of nearly 1.5km from central Delhi to the ground, and the youth-led Cockroach Janta Party has pledged its support.
The dispute centres on the Special Intensive Revision of voter lists, which the BBC said has removed 130 million names from draft rolls. Reuters put the figure at more than 130 million, including 28 million people who had died, 63 million who had relocated and 30 million who could not be traced. The Hindu reported the opposition's charge as 13.2 crore deletions. The Election Commission says the exercise purges dead voters and people who have moved, and that wrongly deleted voters can re-enrol.
Opposition parties allege the revision helps Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party and, according to Reuters, that it disproportionately affects Muslim voters and other minorities. The BJP and the commission reject the allegations.
Protests grew after The Indian Express reported in September that Kumar's two fellow commissioners had raised objections internally. The BBC said the newspaper reported he made decisions without their agreement despite objections on more than a dozen occasions. The commission said differences of opinion were normal.
On Saturday, opposition leaders staged a mock impeachment of Kumar at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's Delhi residence, presided over by former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar. The Hindu reported six charges were levelled, including conspiring with the BJP to steal elections. The BBC noted the event had no legal standing, as the election chief can only be removed through a formal parliamentary process. Trinamool Congress leader Sagarika Ghose called for such proceedings in the Winter Session.
Modi told a rally on Friday that "some people" wanted to create chaos so he could be defamed. The Hindu, citing PTI, reported BJP national president Nitin Nabin would lead a counter march in Rohtak, Haryana, on Sunday.
Traders in nearby Chandni Chowk are divided over the rally, which falls a week before Diwali, the BBC reported. The Hindu said Gandhi urged attendees to do festive shopping afterwards.
Gandhi told supporters on X not to "worry about the police". The BBC said police had approved the rally on conditions reported by media, including that it end by 5pm and that CCTV be installed. Delhi Traffic Police announced restrictions in central Delhi from 10am to 5pm.
Sources: BBC News, India's opposition set to hold mega rally seeking election chief's resignation; CNA, Indian authorities tighten security ahead of big opposition march in Delhi; The Straits Times, Indian authorities tighten security ahead of big opposition march in Delhi; The Hindu, ‘Chalo Delhi’ posters dominate as INDIA bloc prepares for mega rally at Ramlila Maidan | LIVE.
