India’s opposition rallies in Delhi, demands election chief’s resignation

NEW DELHI — Leaders of India’s opposition INDIA alliance gathered at New Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, protesting a revision of electoral rolls and alleging manipulation of elections.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and the governments in Maharashtra, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh of coming to power through “vote theft”. The allegations were not independently substantiated in the material provided.

“Only if Modi goes will democracy survive. We must remove Modi to save democracy,” Kharge told the gathering.

Supporters and party workers gathered around noon, carrying placards and chanting slogans against the Special Intensive Revision, or SIR, of electoral rolls. Members of the alliance’s youth and student organisations also joined the protest.

Senior leaders attending included former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee.

Communist Party of India leader D. Raja and Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation leader Dipankar Bhattacharya also attended, alongside leaders from Kerala.

The material provided did not include a response from the Election Commission or Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party to the allegations made at the rally.