NEW DELHI — Leaders of India’s opposition INDIA bloc marched through New Delhi on Monday in a protest demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, accusing him of misconduct in running the country’s elections.
The march, led by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, was planned to head to the Supreme Court. “Tomorrow, all of India will march to the Supreme Court,” Gandhi wrote on X ahead of the protest.
Those expected to join included former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, Samajwadi Party lawmakers, Left parties — including the CPI(M), CPI, CPI(ML), RSP and Forward Bloc — as well as the VCK, IUML, NCP (SP), RJD, National Conference and several Kerala-based parties, according to live reports.
Security personnel were deployed outside the Parliament Street police station ahead of the planned march.
Congress leader and former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said the protest was aimed at forcing Kumar’s resignation. “He has been exposed, one instance after another, for how he has indulged in discrepancies,” Hooda said. “A large number of people have come here; they are not going to stop now. The protest will continue until he (CEC Gyanesh Kumar) resigns.”
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Sandeep Deshpande also backed the protest, telling reporters the country was facing an “undeclared Emergency” that citizens had to fight. The march is the opposition’s biggest show of force yet in its running battle with the Election Commission.
