Protests demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation continued in Delhi, with several demonstrators detained as the Opposition stepped up its campaign over alleged electoral irregularities and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The leaders jointly announced that their protests would continue, signalling that the campaign against the Election Commission would remain a key part of the INDIA bloc’s political strategy.
Opposition Moves Supreme Court Over Election Commission
The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) staged a demonstration at Jantar Mantar in Delhi on Monday, with spokespersons Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka leading supporters in demanding Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation. Police detained the protesters, who gathered at the site despite the government removing Jantar Mantar from the list of designated protest venues. Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi hosted a tea meeting at his residence to discuss the Opposition’s future course of action. The Registry also flagged an unclear photocopy of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s identity card and sought a clearer copy. Other shortcomings included missing pages, documents reproduced at an inadequate size and the absence of colour copies of certain original documents.
Representatives of 16 parties attended, including the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction, CPI(M), CPI and CPI(ML), along with Congress leaders.
Amit Shah Rejects Opposition’s Allegations
Shah pointed out that the Congress had lost elections in Gujarat even when ballot papers were used. However, there are few indications that the Chief Election Commissioner will step down. Gyanesh Kumar continues to discharge his official duties, while the government has shown no sign of yielding to the Opposition’s demand. The CPI called for Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation, while the RJD alleged that there was a conspiracy to undermine democratic institutions. The Trinamool Congress argued that free and fair elections were not possible while Kumar remained in office. He also accused the Congress of dismissing the popularity of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi by attributing electoral outcomes to changes in electoral rolls, and urged the party to introspect.
The Opposition has sustained its campaign over the past 12 days, with demonstrations organised by INDIA bloc leaders and CJP on different dates. Rahul Gandhi and senior Opposition leaders began taking to the streets on October 6, followed by further protests on October 7, 8, 9 and 12. CJP had separately announced a demonstration for October 10.
Congress leaders said they would continue their efforts to defend democracy.
