Indian opposition rallies to demand resignation of elections chief

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The demonstration, called by opposition bloc India, was joined by tens of thousands of people, some carrying musical instruments and waving various flags, as they chanted slogans against the policies of the central government. 

Several opposition parties of the alliance, formed in 2023 to unseat Mr Modi, mobilised their cadres from different states for the protest, which came weeks after a police crackdown on protesters in New Delhi.

Led by Rahul Gandhi, leader of the main opposition Congress Party, and backed by the Cockroach movement of young people, the protesters called for the safeguarding of India’s democracy while demanding the resignation of Mr Kumar over a contentious electoral register revision.

The protesters gathered at Ramlila Maidan, a sprawling public square in New Delhi, after police withdrew Jantar Mantar from the list of officially designated venues for demonstrations last month. The historic observatory had long served as the capital’s main protest site.

Authorities deployed thousands of police and paramilitary soldiers and mounted extensive surveillance, with more than 200 CCTV cameras, drones and body-worn cameras at the venue and along the protest route, officials said.

The review of electoral registers has removed more than 130 million names since last year. Critics say the exercise is politically motivated, threatens to disenfranchise millions more people and has disproportionately affected minorities, particularly Muslims.

The election commission and Mr Modi’s administration claim the revision is intended to remove duplicate and ineligible entries.

Last Thursday, Human Rights Watch said the accusations over the electoral register revision raise “serious questions about the fairness of future Indian elections.”

“The authorities should immediately scrap the voter roll revision process that has denied India’s most marginalised people their right to vote and other government services,” said Asia director Elaine Pearson in a statement.

Opposition parties, mainly Congress, accuse Mr Modi’s Hindu chauvinist Bharatiya Janata Party of systematic manipulation of the electoral process amounting to vote theft.

The prime minister has not publicly commented on the protests, but some of his party’s leaders have dismissed the demonstrators as “anarchists” and suggested, without offering evidence, that they are backed by foreign powers.