India: Opposition leaders to march to Election Commission

Leaders and MPs from India’s opposition parties are set to carry out a protest march to the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) headquarters in New Delhi on Tuesday as they call for the sacking of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over controversial voter list changes.

Security arrangements have been beefed up around the national poll body’s headquarters, media reports said Tuesday morning.

The INDIA bloc  — the Congress-led alliance of opposition parties — announced the march last week as part of a broader ‘Save Democracy’ campaign under which its leaders have been holding demonstrations since October 2 over alleged irregularities made by the ECI.

The opposition is demanding the removal of Kumar, who is facing allegations of taking unilateral action in connection with mass culling of names from registered voter lists.

Critics say the action, called the Special Intensive Revision (SIR),  has disenfranchised millions of eligible voters by removing their names from voter lists and that the changes benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The ECI and the BJP reject the allegations.

Around 130 million names have been removed from electoral rolls since the changes began last year.

The opposition march on Tuesday will begin from Parliament House.

INDIA bloc leaders are later also expected to meet President Droupadi Murmu to raise concerns over the SIR exercise, reports said.

This is Dharvi Vaid Dhulia from DW’s Studio in New Delhi, bringing you our daily offering of all the biggest headlines from India.

Demands for the ouster of India’s top poll official Gyanesh Kumar over contentious changes to voter rolls are set to reach the Election Commission of India’s doorstep — quite literally — with opposition leaders and MPs planning a protest march to the election body’s headquarters in New Delhi today.

Meanwhile, another protest seeking Kumar’s resignation looms as India’s ‘cockroach’ protesters have announced a return to Jantar Mantar —  the same site in the heart of the Indian capital from where the online satirical movement was propelled to the mainstream and forced India’s education minister to step down. The Cockroach Janta Party’s protest is slated for October 10.

And amid all the pressure that is mounting in the country over allegations of widespread voter-list manipulation, by-elections are underway in three states and one Union Territory.

Stay tuned.