Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in New Delhi on Sunday, November 1, as India’s opposition parties renewed demands for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to resign over a disputed revision of voter lists. The rally marked another public challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, coming weeks after police cracked down on protesters in the capital.
The opposition INDIA bloc organized the demonstration, bringing party workers from several states. Participants waved flags, carried musical instruments and shouted slogans criticizing central government policies. The alliance was established in 2023 with the goal of removing Modi from power. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi led the protest, which also had support from the youth “Cockroach” movement.
Demonstrators assembled at Ramlila Maidan, a large public square, after police removed Jantar Mantar from the capital’s officially approved protest venues last month. The historic observatory had been New Delhi’s principal demonstration site. Officials said thousands of police and paramilitary personnel were deployed, with surveillance at the venue and along the route involving more than 200 security cameras, drones and body-worn cameras.
Speaking at the rally, Gandhi alleged that electoral theft had been occurring in India for years and said Kumar would have to leave office and face imprisonment. He also accused the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological parent of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, of extending its control over institutions, including education and investigative agencies. Gandhi said farmers, workers and young people were consequently being deprived of their rights.
More than 130 million names have been deleted from voter lists during the review since last year. Critics allege that the process serves political interests, could strip millions more people of voting rights and has disproportionately affected minorities, especially Muslims. The Election Commission and Modi’s administration reject those accusations, saying the exercise is designed to eliminate duplicate registrations and entries belonging to ineligible voters.
Human Rights Watch added its criticism on Thursday, saying the allegations raised serious concerns about whether future Indian elections would be fair. Elaine Pearson, the organization’s Asia director, called for the revision to be abandoned immediately, saying it had deprived some of India’s most marginalized people of voting rights and access to other government services.
Demands for Kumar’s departure have united opposition parties and Cockroach Janta Party supporters for weeks in their challenge to Modi’s Hindu nationalist BJP. Congress and other opposition parties accuse the governing party of systematically manipulating elections, using the phrase “vote chori,” meaning vote theft. Modi has not publicly addressed the protests. Some BJP leaders have called participants “anarchists” and alleged foreign backing without providing evidence.
The youth movement previously led protests in July that forced Modi’s education minister to resign, an unusual setback for a prime minister who has governed for more than 12 years. It emerged from an online satirical campaign during the summer after India’s chief justice likened unemployed young people to parasites.
Among Sunday’s protesters was Suresh Sharma from the northern state of Haryana, who said India’s system required reform because democracy was being stifled. He called for the voter list revision to be scrapped and demanded Kumar’s resignation and arrest.
