Newsletters
Indian opposition parties held a rally in the national capital, New Delhi, on Sunday to protest the alleged removal of voters from electoral rolls across the country.
New Delhi has been witnessing massive protests following a report in September that two election commissioners had raised concerns with Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over decisions related to the revision of voter lists in several states and federal territories.
The protesters have demanded Kumar’s resignation.
The overhaul has led to the removal of more than 133 million names from voter lists, according to figures reported by Indian media and cited by opposition parties in court filings. Critics say minorities, particularly Muslims, have been disproportionately affected.
On Sunday, thousands attended a protest rally at New Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan, with the main opposition Congress party stating that “when democracy is under attack, silence is not an option.” Leaders from the INDIA opposition bloc participated in Sunday’s protest.
Protesters chanted “vote thief, leave your seat” and beat drums as they marched from central New Delhi to Ramlila Maidan.
The INDIA alliance, which includes more than a dozen opposition parties, has announced further protests over the issue.
The Cockroach Janta Party, an online youth-led protest movement that has gained millions of social media followers since its launch in May, has also backed the campaign.
Its protests over exam irregularities in July forced the education minister to resign, a rare climbdown for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration.
Indian Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi said during his address that India’s voice was saying “that we will not let the country’s democracy and constitution be destroyed.”
“The (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi government is not bigger than the constitution. The constitution is the greatest,” he said.
Tejashwi Yadav, an opposition leader from Bihar state, noted that the “fight is between the country’s voters and the cheaters.”
“That’s why we must come together to save the country’s democracy. We have to teach such people a lesson,” he said.
The Election Commission has conducted special intensive revision exercises of electoral rolls in several states. The opposition alleges that a large number of voters have been removed from the electoral rolls, a charge denied by authorities.
Human Rights Watch described the removal of voters as “arbitrary and deeply flawed” and urged authorities to immediately scrap the revision process.
Election authorities say the revision aims to eliminate duplicate, deceased and fraudulent entries and that eligible voters can still apply to be included on the rolls.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members have long claimed that large numbers of undocumented Muslim migrants from neighboring Bangladesh have fraudulently entered India’s electoral rolls.
Reacting to the rally, Jagat Prakash Nadda, an Indian minister and senior leader of the ruling BJP, said in a post on X on Sunday that it was a “deliberate conspiracy to hand the country over to anarchy in the name of democracy.”
“This is a foolish and meticulously planned drama by those who have been defeated and repeatedly rejected by the people, which the public understands very well,” he added.
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
1 min read
1 min read
