Tens of Thousands Rally in Delhi Demanding Election Chief's Resignation
Tens of thousands of people gathered in Delhi on November 1, 2026, at an opposition rally calling for the resignation of India's chief election commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar. The event was held at Ramlila Maidan, a large open ground in central Delhi, and was organised by the INDIA alliance, a group of opposition parties led by Rahul Gandhi's Congress party.
The protest centres on the revision of India's electoral rolls, the official lists of people entitled to vote. Indian law requires these rolls to be revised before every election or as required. The latest exercise, known as the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), removed 130 million names from draft rolls, according to the BBC. The Election Commission of India says the SIR is meant to remove the names of people who have died, moved away or are otherwise ineligible to vote.
Opposition parties accuse Kumar and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of what they call "vote chori", or vote theft, and say the voter-roll revision is being used to manipulate the electoral process. The BJP and the Election Commission of India deny allegations of vote theft linked to the revision. The Indian Express reported in September that Kumar made key decisions on the revision despite objections from the commission's two other members on more than a dozen occasions.
Rahul Gandhi and several senior opposition leaders arrived at the venue in a jeep, moving through crowds of supporters. Among those attending were Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav, Mehbooba Mufti, Supriya Sule and Tejashwi Yadav. The Gen Z-led pressure group Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) backed the rally, demanding Kumar's resignation along with electoral reforms.
Thousands of security personnel were deployed around Ramlila Maidan, and traffic was restricted on roads nearby. Earlier protest plans, reported by Reuters in late September, included a march to the Election Commission's office.
The revision has also been carried out in other parts of the country. The commission directed a Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in the eastern state of Bihar earlier this year.
