NEW DELHI (The Thursday Times) — Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has urged students across the country to join a march on Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan on November 1 to demand the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, telling them not to fear the police.
“Don’t worry about the police, don’t worry about lathis. The BJP will not have the guts to try any of their antics,” Gandhi said in a video message on X. “Come march with us. We will walk together to protect the Constitution, to protect the Indian nation.”
He said the “Chalo Delhi Ramlila March” would not be any one party’s protest but a united demonstration by everyone “harassed” by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and the chief election commissioner. “If you feel that India is under attack, if you feel you are under attack, your expression, your ideas, your way of thinking is under attack, come and join us,” he said. “It’s a march for the soul of this country.”
A ‘public impeachment’
The opposition INDIA bloc is also staging a symbolic “public impeachment” of Kumar on Saturday, as part of its “vote chori” (vote theft) campaign against the Election Commission, The Indian Express reported. After authorities refused permission to hold it at Ramlila Maidan, it will take place at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence, with former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar presiding and people struck off the electoral rolls invited to speak.
Opposition motions to remove Kumar were rejected by the presiding officers of both houses of Parliament in April, Congress sources said, prompting the alliance to take its case to the public.
Millions struck off
The opposition accuses the commission of using the special intensive revision of electoral rolls to purge voters, with well over 100 million names removed nationwide according to media tallies. The commission says the exercise removes dead, duplicate and ineligible voters. On Wednesday, India’s Supreme Court questioned why Delhi voters struck off the rolls must re-register as first-time voters.
