Indian opposition figures lead march to police barricades around supreme court
✓Delhi police have again obstructed protests in India’s capital as thousands of people returned to the streets, led by opposition leaders, to demand the resignation of the election commissioner.
After mass unrest in the capital over the weekend, when thousands were detained and harassed by police as they attempted to take part in a protest led by the gen Z Cockroach movement, on Monday the main opposition leaders led another procession through Delhi, this time to the supreme court.
The leader of India’s opposition alliance, Rahul Gandhi, alongside other opposition figures and student groups, had declared their intention to march to the court and submit a petition calling for India’s chief election commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, to step down.
Kumar has become a deeply controversial figure for his role in an exercise to verify and “purify” India’s electoral rolls, which has led to more than 130m names – more than the population of Japan – being deleted from voter lists since last year.
Opposition parties and civil society groups allege Kumar implemented this special intensive revision (SIR) to help entrench the power of Narendra Modi’s government and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP). Muslim voters and other minorities who are traditionally not BJP voters have allegedly been disproportionately affected by the deletions.
The election commission has denied favouring any party and said wrongly deleted voters could re-enrol, while the BJP has accused its rivals of trying to undermine democracy by questioning legitimate electoral processes.
Several metro stations were closed on Monday in central Delhi and police barricades prevented thousands of protesters getting within 600m of the supreme court, forcing them to turn back.
However, lawyers confirmed they had submitted the petition on Gandhi’s behalf and by late evening, Gandhi had broken through the barricades and reached the court gates.
In a press conference before the march, Gandhi reiterated his allegation that the Modi government was using the commission to commit “vote chori” (cheating) and accused Kumar of being a “thief”.
Gandhi expressed support for the mass uprising of young people, led by the Cockroach Janta party (CJP) and student groups, who had tried to protest over the weekend but were met with police brutality and mass detentions.
“Till the constitution is upheld, till the chief election commissioner is removed, till the system of elections is revamped, till justice is served for India, the youth won’t stop,” he said.
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The SIR and calls for Kumar’s resignation have galvanised support for beleaguered opposition parties, who are seen to have flailed in the face of the BJP’s electoral power. Gandhi was detained twice last week after the police refused to let him and other opposition leaders reach Jantar Mantar, the designated protest site in central Delhi.
Mahua Moitra, an opposition MP who was marching after being detained last week, alleged that in her constituency in West Bengal more than 10,000 voters had been unjustly removed from the electoral rolls.
“There’s no going back now. People know that their votes have been stolen and this government is finished,” Moitra said. “The police can detain us, they can use brute force and crack our skulls, but we are not going to get off the streets until Gyanesh Kumar resigns and this government is gone. If we don’t stand up to this, then there will be nothing left of our country.”
Moitra accused the supreme court of helping to validate the SIR process and disenfranchise millions of Indians. “When the history of this dark chapter of India is written, the supreme court will be the most disgraced,” she said. “It was the supreme court who put a stamp of approval on every illegality of this government.”
Gandhi has spent months accusing the BJP of fraudulently influencing elections, but his claims have been largely ignored. The issue exploded last month after the Indian Express newspaper reported multiple irregularities in the SIR process that had been pushed through by Kumar.
The protests are likely to continue this week. On Monday, leaders of the CJP approached the Delhi police to seek a date to be allowed to hold a protest without obstruction. They said that if the police refused to comply, their supporters would take to the streets again.
Read the full story at BBC ↗ · The Guardian ↗
Thousands join rally to deliver petition calling for resignation of election commissioner. Delhi police have again obstructed protests in India’s capital as thousands of people…
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Delhi police have again obstructed protests in India’s capital as thousands of people returned to the streets, led by opposition leaders, to demand the resignation of the election commissioner.
After mass unrest in the capital over the weekend, when thousands were detained and harassed by police as they attempted to take part in a protest led by the gen Z Cockroach movement, on Monday the main opposition leaders led another procession through Delhi, this time to the supreme court.
The leader of India’s opposition alliance, Rahul Gandhi, alongside other opposition figures and student groups, had declared their intention to march to the court and submit a petition calling for India’s chief election commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, to step down.
Kumar has become a deeply controversial figure for his role in an exercise to verify and “purify” India’s electoral rolls, which has led to more than 130m names – more than the population of Japan – being deleted from voter lists since last year.
Opposition parties and civil society groups allege Kumar implemented this special intensive revision (SIR) to help entrench the power of Narendra Modi’s government and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP). Muslim voters and other minorities who are traditionally not BJP voters have allegedly been disproportionately affected by the deletions.
The election commission has denied favouring any party and said wrongly deleted voters could re-enrol, while the BJP has accused its rivals of trying to undermine democracy by questioning legitimate electoral processes.
Several metro stations were closed on Monday in central Delhi and police barricades prevented thousands of protesters getting within 600m of the supreme court, forcing them to turn back.
However, lawyers confirmed they had submitted the petition on Gandhi’s behalf and by late evening, Gandhi had broken through the barricades and reached the court gates.
In a press conference before the march, Gandhi reiterated his allegation that the Modi government was using the commission to commit “vote chori” (cheating) and accused Kumar of being a “thief”.
Gandhi expressed support for the mass uprising of young people, led by the Cockroach Janta party (CJP) and student groups, who had tried to protest over the weekend but were met with police brutality and mass detentions.
“Till the constitution is upheld, till the chief election commissioner is removed, till the system of elections is revamped, till justice is served for India, the youth won’t stop,” he said.
after newsletter promotion
The SIR and calls for Kumar’s resignation have galvanised support for beleaguered opposition parties, who are seen to have flailed in the face of the BJP’s electoral power. Gandhi was detained twice last week after the police refused to let him and other opposition leaders reach Jantar Mantar, the designated protest site in central Delhi.
Mahua Moitra, an opposition MP who was marching after being detained last week, alleged that in her constituency in West Bengal more than 10,000 voters had been unjustly removed from the electoral rolls.
“There’s no going back now. People know that their votes have been stolen and this government is finished,” Moitra said. “The police can detain us, they can use brute force and crack our skulls, but we are not going to get off the streets until Gyanesh Kumar resigns and this government is gone. If we don’t stand up to this, then there will be nothing left of our country.”
Moitra accused the supreme court of helping to validate the SIR process and disenfranchise millions of Indians. “When the history of this dark chapter of India is written, the supreme court will be the most disgraced,” she said. “It was the supreme court who put a stamp of approval on every illegality of this government.”
Gandhi has spent months accusing the BJP of fraudulently influencing elections, but his claims have been largely ignored. The issue exploded last month after the Indian Express newspaper reported multiple irregularities in the SIR process that had been pushed through by Kumar.
The protests are likely to continue this week. On Monday, leaders of the CJP approached the Delhi police to seek a date to be allowed to hold a protest without obstruction. They said that if the police refused to comply, their supporters would take to the streets again.
Read the full story at BBC ↗ · The Guardian ↗
Delhi police have again obstructed protests in India’s capital as thousands of people returned to the streets, led by opposition leaders, to demand the resignation of the election commissioner.
After mass unrest in the capital over the weekend, when thousands were detained and harassed by police as they attempted to take part in a protest led by the gen Z Cockroach movement, on Monday the main opposition leaders led another procession through Delhi, this time to the supreme court.
The leader of India’s opposition alliance, Rahul Gandhi, alongside other opposition figures and student groups, had declared their intention to march to the court and submit a petition calling for India’s chief election commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, to step down.
Kumar has become a deeply controversial figure for his role in an exercise to verify and “purify” India’s electoral rolls, which has led to more than 130m names – more than the population of Japan – being deleted from voter lists since last year.
Opposition parties and civil society groups allege Kumar implemented this special intensive revision (SIR) to help entrench the power of Narendra Modi’s government and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP). Muslim voters and other minorities who are traditionally not BJP voters have allegedly been disproportionately affected by the deletions.
The election commission has denied favouring any party and said wrongly deleted voters could re-enrol, while the BJP has accused its rivals of trying to undermine democracy by questioning legitimate electoral processes.
Several metro stations were closed on Monday in central Delhi and police barricades prevented thousands of protesters getting within 600m of the supreme court, forcing them to turn back.
However, lawyers confirmed they had submitted the petition on Gandhi’s behalf and by late evening, Gandhi had broken through the barricades and reached the court gates.
In a press conference before the march, Gandhi reiterated his allegation that the Modi government was using the commission to commit “vote chori” (cheating) and accused Kumar of being a “thief”.
Gandhi expressed support for the mass uprising of young people, led by the Cockroach Janta party (CJP) and student groups, who had tried to protest over the weekend but were met with police brutality and mass detentions.
“Till the constitution is upheld, till the chief election commissioner is removed, till the system of elections is revamped, till justice is served for India, the youth won’t stop,” he said.
after newsletter promotion
The SIR and calls for Kumar’s resignation have galvanised support for beleaguered opposition parties, who are seen to have flailed in the face of the BJP’s electoral power. Gandhi was detained twice last week after the police refused to let him and other opposition leaders reach Jantar Mantar, the designated protest site in central Delhi.
Mahua Moitra, an opposition MP who was marching after being detained last week, alleged that in her constituency in West Bengal more than 10,000 voters had been unjustly removed from the electoral rolls.
“There’s no going back now. People know that their votes have been stolen and this government is finished,” Moitra said. “The police can detain us, they can use brute force and crack our skulls, but we are not going to get off the streets until Gyanesh Kumar resigns and this government is gone. If we don’t stand up to this, then there will be nothing left of our country.”
Moitra accused the supreme court of helping to validate the SIR process and disenfranchise millions of Indians. “When the history of this dark chapter of India is written, the supreme court will be the most disgraced,” she said. “It was the supreme court who put a stamp of approval on every illegality of this government.”
Gandhi has spent months accusing the BJP of fraudulently influencing elections, but his claims have been largely ignored. The issue exploded last month after the Indian Express newspaper reported multiple irregularities in the SIR process that had been pushed through by Kumar.
The protests are likely to continue this week. On Monday, leaders of the CJP approached the Delhi police to seek a date to be allowed to hold a protest without obstruction. They said that if the police refused to comply, their supporters would take to the streets again.
Read the full story at BBC ↗ · The Guardian ↗
This lens runs the verified story through Cinnamon's AI — wired in the next step.
- Thousands join rally to deliver petition calling for resignation of election commissioner.
- Delhi police have again obstructed protests in India’s capital as thousands of people…