INDIA Bloc MPs Protest Outside EC After March Is Halted, Target Gyanesh Kumar

New Delhi, Oct 6: INDIA bloc MPs, led by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, on Tuesday marched from the Parliament complex towards the Election Commission headquarters but were stopped by police on Parliament Street.

After being prevented from moving ahead, the opposition lawmakers sat on the road and began a dharna, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

The march was halted near the NITI Aayog office, along the road between NITI Aayog and Akashvani Bhavan that leads towards Nirvachan Sadan, the Election Commission’s headquarters. Heavy security arrangements and barricades had been placed along the route ahead of the planned demonstration.

The MPs had assembled at Makar Dwar in the Parliament complex before beginning their march. Security personnel had taken positions in the area well before the lawmakers arrived.

During the protest, opposition MPs carried cutouts portraying Kumar in an RSS uniform and raised slogans including “BJP hai CEC hai”, “Vote chor, gaddi chhod” and “Democracy not for sale”.

Gandhi later posted a brief message on X, saying, “Gyanesh it’s done bro. Time to resign”.

Several prominent opposition leaders joined the demonstration, including Trinamool Congress leaders Abhishek Banerjee and Derek O’Brien, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and CPI (M) leader John Brittas.

The protest was organised amid growing opposition criticism of the Election Commission over its handling of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls and a dispute surrounding changes linked to Form 6, the statutory application used for voter enrolment.

Before the march began, opposition MPs questioned the extensive security deployment and reiterated their demand for Kumar to step down.

Congress MP Imran Masood alleged that public confidence in the Election Commission had been damaged under Kumar’s leadership.

“Across the country, the institution that Gyanesh Kumar headed was an institution the entire country trusted, an institution the entire country took pride in and felt proud of. Questions were never raised over its impartiality. One person has broken that trust,” he said in remarks to PTI Videos.

Masood also alleged that a wider network was involved in the issue and said the opposition would continue questioning the CEC and seek responses from BJP-ruled states.

CPI MP P Sandosh Kumar said recent Supreme Court observations had strengthened the opposition’s concerns regarding the additional declaration associated with Form 6 during the SIR exercise.

He referred to the Election Commission’s September 26 statement, which had said that the Form 6 declaration used during the revision exercise had been upheld by the Supreme Court.

The CPI leader alleged that the Commission’s description of the court’s position was misleading and said opposition parties would intensify their campaign against the provisions.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut also questioned the scale of the security arrangements around the proposed route.

“We are MPs. We are members of Parliament. We are also citizens of this country. Why is there a need to deploy such a large force to stop us? We will walk and go. We are unarmed,” Raut said.

He claimed that personnel from the Border Security Force and Central Industrial Security Force had been deployed and alleged that security had also been strengthened around the residences of ministers.

Raut accused the CEC of misrepresenting the Supreme Court’s position on Form 6 and said Kumar should not continue in office.

The Supreme Court’s observations on Monday have become a central point of the opposition’s latest criticism. While hearing a petition challenging alleged unilateral decisions by the Election Commission, the court said it had not approved any modified version of Form 6.

The court indicated that it would examine records maintained by the poll panel to determine whether changes had been introduced and identify who had authorised them.

The Election Commission had said in its September 26 statement that the declaration attached to Form 6 for the SIR exercise had been upheld by the Supreme Court. It also maintained that the forms prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, would continue to apply outside the SIR period.

The opposition’s protest is part of a broader campaign against alleged irregularities in the electoral-roll revision process. Opposition parties have also raised questions over reports of differences within the three-member Election Commission.

The poll panel, however, has rejected suggestions that there is a division among its members and maintained that decisions concerning the SIR process were taken unanimously.

The latest demonstration adds to the political confrontation surrounding the electoral-roll revision and the Election Commission’s handling of Form 6. The opposition has said it will continue pressing for accountability, while the poll body has defended its procedures and decisions.