Opposition leaders and workers gathered to march to the Supreme Court, how are the preparations?
Opposition parties are marching to the Supreme Court demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Quick Look
- Rahul Gandhi and opposition parties marched from Barakhamba to the Supreme Court in Delhi demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
- Controversy has deepened regarding the process of updating the voter list.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
Opposition parties are protesting against the voter list update process and the actions of the Chief Election Commissioner.
Opposition parties are marching to the Supreme Court demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.
BBC correspondent Dilnawaz Pasha present on the ground said that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and opposition leaders boarded a bus and reached outside Barakhamba metro station. Workers of Congress, Samajwadi Party, Left parties and hundreds of students are present here.
According to Dilnawaz Pasha, only people are visible from far and wide on the road leading from Barakhamba Metro Station to Mandi House. Police have put up barricades ahead. There may be a clash between the protesters and the police on these barricades.
Many MPs from Congress and opposition are also present with Rahul Gandhi.
India Alliance has announced to take out a march from Barakhamba to the Supreme Court demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
What happened in the last two days?
On October 10, the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) had called for a demonstration at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. In view of this, a large number of police personnel were deployed in Delhi and no protestor was allowed to reach Jantar Mantar.
CJP founder Abhijit Deepke, co-convenors Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das were taken into custody from the plane as soon as it reached Delhi airport.
At the same time, on Saturday afternoon, famous economist Jean Dreze also reached Jantar Mantar, but the police did not allow him to sit on the dharna there.
Apart from this, 45 metro stations were also closed on Saturday to prevent the protesters from reaching Jantar Mantar.
Despite the day's action, protesters continued to be seen around Connaught Place and Jantar Mantar till evening. They were arriving in small groups and moving away when the police arrived.
But the impact of this demonstration was not limited to the protesters only.
Elderly people, women and children returning from hospitals were not getting buses and autos to go home.
CJP had also called for reaching Jantar Mantar on Sunday.
However, the police was ready on the second day also. On Sunday also the same scene as on Saturday was seen. The police did not allow any protestor to reach Jantar Mantar.
According to media reports, seven thousand protesters were released on Saturday after being detained. At the same time, hundreds of people were detained on Sunday also.
For the second consecutive day, on Sunday, roads were barricaded in large parts of Central Delhi. Offices, shops and restaurants were closed, while restrictions were also imposed on internet services.
Protestors returned to the area for the second consecutive day, but their numbers were much less than the security forces.
Why are people protesting?
The root of this controversy is the extensive process of updating voter lists across the country. The Election Commission says that this is a routine process to remove dead, double name and ineligible voters from the list.
Till now at least 13 crore names have been removed from the voter lists.
This process has been surrounded by controversies in many states. Thousands of people have alleged that their names have been removed from the voter list by mistake.
CJP and opposition parties allege that Gyanesh Kumar is working in favor of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the way of updating the voter list.
However, the Election Commission and BJP have rejected these allegations.
An investigative report by the English newspaper The Indian Express reported that two election commissioners lodged objections '14 times in 10 months' regarding the steps taken by the Election Commission.
It has been told in the report that during the Special Intensive Revision or SIR campaign last year, the Election Commissioners were not informed about many decisions and both the Election Commissioners had repeatedly raised objections to these decisions.
According to the report, "These objections were lodged by Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, ranging from keeping themselves in the dark to adding new voters and deleting names and raised questions on 'unauthorized, illegal' steps."
What to Watch
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
Protests and marches may continue
Likely · Within days
Open Questions
- What steps did the Election Commission take on the objections?
- What will happen next to the detained protesters?


