Opposition Leaders to Protest Against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar
On Tuesday, leaders and members of the opposition in India plan to hold a protest march to the Election Commission’s headquarters in New Delhi. They are demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar due to his controversial changes to the voter list.
Reports indicate that security measures around the Election Commission have been increased in preparation for the march. The opposition coalition known as the INDIA bloc, which is led by the Congress party, announced this protest as part of their ongoing ‘Save Democracy’ campaign. Since October 2, they have been organizing demonstrations to address what they claim are irregularities made by the Election Commission.
The opposition is particularly focused on allegations against Gyanesh Kumar for taking unilateral actions that have led to the removal of numerous names from the registered voter lists. They argue that this situation—referred to as the Special Intensive Revision (SIR)—has unfairly excluded millions of eligible voters and has benefited the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In response, both the Election Commission and the BJP have denied these allegations. Since the changes began last year, around 130 million names have reportedly been removed from the electoral rolls.
The protest will kick off from the Parliament House, and the opposition leaders are also expected to meet with President Droupadi Murmu later to express their concerns regarding the voter list changes.
