INDIA Bloc Rallies at Ramlila Maidan, Demands Removal of Election Commissioner

Leaders of the INDIA bloc led a large rally at Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi on 1 November 2026, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The gathering followed a march from the Minto Road-Connaught Place area and formed one of the largest opposition mobilisations in the capital in recent years.

Rahul Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, told the crowd that Kumar would be removed from office and would go to jail for what he described as vote theft. He said neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor Home Minister Amit Shah would hold their present positions without Kumar’s actions. Gandhi claimed that roughly 13 crore names had been removed from electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision, equal to about 15 percent of the electorate, and that the 2024 Lok Sabha result had been affected by a margin of only about 3 percent between the NDA and the opposition.

Mallikarjun Kharge, Akhilesh Yadav, Mamata Banerjee, Mehbooba Mufti, Tejashwi Yadav, Farooq Abdullah and several chief ministers addressed the rally or joined the stage. The slogan used by organisers was “Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao.” Protesters carried lists of deleted names, artificial parrots bearing Kumar’s face, and other symbols aimed at the Election Commission. A day earlier the bloc had staged a symbolic “public impeachment” of Kumar at Kharge’s residence.

The Bharatiya Janata Party rejected the allegations. Union minister J.P. Nadda called the rally an orchestrated drama by parties that have repeatedly lost elections. The BJP held its own events the same day. Delhi Police deployed thousands of personnel; traffic restrictions ran from morning into the afternoon in central Delhi.

The opposition has focused on the Special Intensive Revision process, arguing that large numbers of voters, particularly from certain communities, were removed under categories of absent, shifted or dead without adequate notice or appeal. The Election Commission has defended the revision as a routine cleaning of rolls. No court has ruled on the opposition’s broader claim that the 2024 election result was produced by the deletions.

The rally keeps the issue of electoral rolls and the Election Commission’s leadership in public view ahead of further state elections and the next national cycle. Opposition parties have said they will continue the campaign until Kumar leaves office. The government and the Commission have given no indication that any such removal is under consideration.

Attendance estimates varied. Organisers and some media reports spoke of more than one lakh people; police and other accounts described a substantial but smaller crowd. The visual record shows a dense gathering of party flags from the Congress, Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress, RJD and Left parties filling the maidan.