INDIA Bloc Rallies at Ramlila Maidan, Demands CEC Gyanesh Kumar's Removal

Leaders of the INDIA bloc gathered at Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi on Sunday and demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, accusing the Election Commission of irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.

The march began from the Minto Road-Connaught Place junction and proceeded to Ramlila Maidan. Participants included Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, and representatives from other alliance parties. Organizers described the turnout as among the largest opposition street mobilizations in recent years. Some reports estimated more than one lakh people; BJP leaders described sections of the ground as sparsely occupied.

Gandhi told the crowd that Kumar would be removed from office and would go to jail for what he called treason through vote theft. He said neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor Home Minister Amit Shah would hold their positions without Kumar. He claimed 13.5 crore names had been removed from voter lists after the 2024 election, describing the process as the theft of citizens' voices. Kharge said the alliance would keep fighting until Kumar goes. Banerjee and Yadav also addressed the rally, criticizing the revision exercise.

The opposition has focused on the Special Intensive Revision, which removed large numbers of names under categories such as absent, shifted or dead. A day earlier the bloc held a symbolic public impeachment of Kumar at Kharge's residence. Gandhi has repeatedly alleged electoral manipulation involving electronic voting machines and roll deletions, claims the Election Commission and the BJP have rejected.

Union minister J.P. Nadda called the rally an orchestrated drama by parties rejected by voters and a conspiracy to create anarchy. The BJP held parallel events. Traffic restrictions were in place in central Delhi from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Leaders traveled in open buses for part of the route.

The rally comes months after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and ahead of several state contests. The Election Commission has defended the revision as a routine cleaning of rolls. No independent verification of the opposition's specific numerical claims has been established in public records. The next general election is due in 2029. The size of the gathering and the sharpness of the language mark a sustained push by the alliance on electoral process questions.