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Tens of thousands of people are expected to gather in Delhi on Sunday for a rally demanding the resignation of India’s chief election commissioner and reforms to the electoral system. Organisers say as many as a million people could attend.
The rally, called by the main opposition Congress party, is due to begin around noon at Ramlila Maidan, according to the BBC. Several senior leaders of the Congress-led INDIA alliance have said they will attend, while the Gen Z-led pressure group Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has also pledged its support.
Dispute over voter-list revision
The rally follows mounting criticism of a voter-list revision exercise that has removed 130 million names from draft electoral rolls across India.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) says the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is intended to update voter lists by removing the names of people who have died or moved away from their registered addresses. Opposition parties allege the process could benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by excluding eligible voters. They have accused the BJP and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of “vote chori”, or vote theft. The BJP and the ECI have denied the allegations.
The dispute intensified in September after The Indian Express reported in an investigation that Kumar had made key decisions about the exercise without the agreement of the two other election commissioners, who had raised objections on more than a dozen occasions.
The ECI said differences of opinion were normal in any institution and did not affect its functioning. Opposition parties, the CJP and student groups have continued to organise protests in Delhi and other Indian cities.
Last month, Congress MP and opposition leader Rahul Gandhi led tens of thousands of protesters on a march from Connaught Place in central Delhi to the Supreme Court, calling for Kumar to resign.
“The march was just the trailer,” a Congress leader told the BBC, saying Sunday’s rally would be several times larger.
Gandhi said the protest was against “the demolition of Indian democracy” and that opposition parties and anyone else wishing to join, whether politically affiliated or not, were welcome.
“There is huge anger, huge emotional pain because millions are being disenfranchised,” he said. “We are all standing together because we are defending the Constitution. We are defending the idea of India. We are defending the vote, which is the expression of all Indians.”
Police impose conditions on Delhi rally
Delhi police have authorised Sunday’s rally subject to several conditions. Media reports say it must end by 5pm, CCTV cameras must be installed at the venue and marches outside the designated protest site will not be allowed.
The planned demonstration has divided traders in Chandni Chowk, one of Delhi’s oldest and busiest markets, located less than a kilometre from Ramlila Maidan. A group of traders said earlier this week that the protest could hurt business during the festive season, a week before Diwali. Another group backed Gandhi’s rally and criticised the BJP for holding a march through the market on Thursday, saying it had caused greater disruption during the festive period.
Authorities have deployed thousands of police and paramilitary personnel across the city, including on roads leading to Ramlila Maidan. The opposition, which has been preparing for the rally for days, has accused the government of trying to prevent people from travelling to Delhi to join the protest.
Gandhi urged people to attend 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 remarks come amid concerns over police handling of recent protests in the capital. On 10 October, thousands of security personnel were deployed and large parts of Delhi were shut down to prevent demonstrations called by the CJP against Kumar.
All of the CJP’s senior leaders were detained. Many demonstrators were beaten and dragged through the streets as the protests were broken up. BBC reporters covering the demonstrations saw police drag protesters away and use batons on some of them.
The CJP has publicly backed the INDIA alliance rally, but it is unclear whether its senior leaders will attend.
