India’s main opposition parties seem set to march to the Supreme Court in Delhi on Monday, October 12, to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged voter-roll fraud. BBC News reports that opposition parties allege that under Kumar, India’s voter rolls undergo manipulation to benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Both the Election Commission and the BJP have rejected the charge, BBC News reports. India Today says the protest, titled “Chalo Delhi - March for Democracy,” also presses for a halt to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and a return to the paper ballot system.
The planned march seems to come after a week of street actions and brief detentions. BBC News reports that over the past week, top opposition leaders, including Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, faced brief detention several times while leading protests in central Delhi. Attempts by the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) pressure group to hold a protest over the weekend led to the detention of thousands of demonstrators, BBC News reports. Authorities canceled trains, shut dozens of metro stations and put tens of thousands of police and paramilitary personnel on the roads, BBC News reports. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, speaking in Bengaluru on Sunday, put the prior day’s force at nearly 32,000 police personnel and 7,500 CRPF personnel, India Today reports.
Who meets whom at the Court seems unsettled. Opposition lawmakers wanted to submit a memorandum to Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, but he told reporters he declined the meeting citing “certain reasons,” BBC News reports. He did not spell out those reasons; media reports citing the letter have said he pointed to issues already pending before the court, though the BBC has not seen the letter. “Every Indian citizen has the right to approach the court, and we will hear their concerns and grant whatever is due under the law,” he told reporters, according to BBC News. India Today, citing sources, reports that the CJI told Gandhi on Sunday that no orders could pass on the administrative side and asked him to file a petition on the judicial side, which could come up on Tuesday. Kharge said the opposition had sought time with the CJI between 4 and 5 p.m., India Today reports.
Gandhi seems to have framed Monday as a broad civic turnout. BBC News reports that he called “all opposition parties, civil society groups [and] all those who believe in democracy” to join the march. In a post on X carried by India Today, he wrote that young people who came to protest peacefully “came with love in their hearts, not hatred or anger” and “were beaten, both by cops and BJP goons.” He added that the march would bring people “united beyond party, gender, caste, community and state.” India Today says Congress leaders planned to gather at the Connaught Place-Barakhamba Road junction at 1:30 p.m. On Friday, INDIA bloc leaders had marched from Parliament to Vijay Chowk and submitted a memorandum to President Droupadi Murmu, India Today reports.
Press freedom claims now sit beside the voter-roll fight. Over the weekend, police detained and released thousands of people, including several journalists, BBC News reports. Reporters Without Borders condemned the detention of at least 16 Indian journalists. “Covering events of public interest is not a crime. It is their job. The police’s actions against the press are unacceptable,” it said, according to BBC News. The BBC also captured visuals of a policeman slapping a detained protester inside a bus; the Delhi Police did not respond to questions about the use of violence against protesters, BBC News reports. AICC general secretary K C Venugopal alleged detention and assault of reporters, including women, calling that “completely unforgivable,” India Today reports.
The ruling party’s line seems sharply different. BJP President Nitin Nabin accused opposition parties and the CJP of trying to destabilise India “at the behest of foreign forces,” without naming the forces he meant, BBC News reports. Police detained CJP leaders Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka from a plane as they landed in Delhi to join the protest and released them a day later, BBC News reports. On Sunday the CJP said it would continue protesting until Kumar stepped down, BBC News reports. India Today notes that The Indian Express had reported internal Election Commission differences over SIR in recent days; this desk has not independently verified that Express report. Kharge said the opposition would “continue our fight to protect democracy and the constitutional rights of the people,” India Today reports.
