New Delhi [India], November 1 (ANI): The INDIA bloc on Sunday held a mega rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan against alleged irregularities in electoral rolls and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, with top Opposition leaders, including Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, attending the event.
The march started from the Minto Road-Connaught Place junction towards Ramlila Maidan, where thousands of supporters converged.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar of facilitating alleged vote theft and said he would be removed from his post and jailed.
Addressing the rally, Rahul Gandhi said the protest represented the voice of the country and was not associated with any particular political party or leader. He accused the CEC of attempting to silence the voice of the nation and asserted that the Opposition would continue its fight to protect the Constitution through peaceful and democratic means.
He claimed that action would be taken against the CEC and alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah would not have reached their respective positions without him.
“Listen to me. What I say always turns out to be true, doesn’t it? I am telling every citizen and every youth of India: Gyanesh Kumar will be removed from the post of Chief Election Commissioner. Gyanesh Kumar will go to jail. Without Gyanesh Kumar, neither Narendra Modi would have become Prime Minister nor Amit Shah would have become Home Minister,” he said.
Rahul Gandhi alleged that vote theft had taken place in several Assembly elections and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections through manipulation of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and changes to electoral rolls. He also claimed that 15 per cent of India’s voters were removed from electoral rolls after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
“For years, vote theft has been happening in this country. Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections: in all these elections, vote theft has occurred. Votes have been stolen through EVMs and by deleting and adding names to voter lists,” he said.
Describing the 2024 Lok Sabha election as stolen, he said, “It was a stolen election. I am not the one saying this; the Election Commission is saying this.”
Raising concerns over farmers’ rights, unemployment and wealth concentration, he said the country should not belong to only a few people and called for the removal of Gyanesh Kumar as the first step towards bringing it back on the right track.
In a post on X, Rahul Gandhi thanked people for turning up in large numbers to raise their voices against alleged vote theft.
“Thank you for turning out in such record numbers to raise your voice against Vote Chori. This groundswell ensures democracy will prevail; truth will prevail. INDIA will prevail!” he said.
https://x.com/RahulGandhi/status/2116908737474826463?s=20
In another post on Facebook, he wrote, “The sky bears witness… The countdown for Gyanesh Kumar and the Modi government has begun,” using the hashtag #ChaloDilli.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge accused the BJP-led governments at the Centre and in Maharashtra, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh of coming to power through what he termed “vote theft”.
“Who votes for them? They choose themselves. The public does not elect them. The current central government, as well as the governments in Maharashtra, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, are all governments of vote theft. We must remove these thieves,” Kharge said.
Calling for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s removal, he said, “Only if Modi goes will democracy survive. We must remove Modi to save democracy.”
Mamata Banerjee said people in Bengal were victims of the SIR exercise and asserted that she would continue the fight against it.
“We will not give up. We will give our lives, we will fight, but we will not surrender,” she said, adding that the fight to protect democracy would continue through political and democratic means.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav described the gathering at Ramlila Maidan as the “Haldighati of democracy” and said the BJP and its allies would not return to power in Uttar Pradesh after the 2027 Assembly elections. He also accused the BJP of using the Election Commission to pursue its political objectives.
“Those who once came from UP will be driven out from UP itself. The people of UP know how to welcome and how to bid farewell even better. In 2027, such a farewell will happen that the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies will not be able to return again. Today, Ramlila Maidan has turned into the Haldighati of democracy. The massive public support and slogans of revolution are proof that change can happen at any moment,” Yadav said.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav compared the Opposition’s fight against alleged vote theft to the Mahabharata, saying Ramlila Maidan had become an arena for a political battle to protect democracy.
“While the Ramlila Maidan is traditionally meant for staging the Ramayana, today we have organised a ‘Mahabharata’ for those who steal votes,” he said.
National Conference president Farooq Abdullah said Jammu and Kashmir was, is and would remain a part of India, while asserting that all citizens were equal under the Constitution and had equal voting rights.
“These people point fingers at Muslims and call them Pakistanis. I want to tell the BJP and RSS: We have given our blood for India. We gave it in the past, we are giving it today, and we will give it tomorrow. This is Ambedkar’s Constitution. This is India’s Constitution. We are all equal, and everyone has an equal vote. Jammu and Kashmir was, is and will remain a part of India. They will not be able to separate it,” he said.
Congress leaders KC Venugopal and Pawan Khera also targeted the BJP leadership over the alleged misuse of democratic institutions.
AICC General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal said people had given a clear message to the government over what he described as attempts to undermine democratic institutions, including the Election Commission.
“Today, the people of India have given a clear message to Narendra Modi and Amit Shah that their time is over. Their time to retain power by hook or by crook is over. Now, the people of India have identified who the culprits are. They are destroying the democracy of India by misusing the Chief Election Commissioner,” Venugopal said.
The INDIA bloc rally followed a public “impeachment”-style programme against CEC Gyanesh Kumar held in the national capital on October 31. Opposition leaders and supporters from different parts of the country participated in the ‘Chalo Delhi’ protest march, which began at the Minto Road-Connaught Place junction and proceeded towards Ramlila Maidan.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah launched a counterattack against the INDIA bloc, accusing the Opposition of disrupting Parliament, spreading negativity and taking parliamentary issues to the streets.
“Lying, spreading chaos, propagating negativity, obstructing the functioning of Parliament, and taking parliamentary issues to the streets to create a ruckus—if this has been your nature, then get ready to spend another five years in the opposition,” Shah said in Chandigarh.
Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi, Shah referred to Sonia Gandhi’s political ambitions for her son, saying they would remain unfulfilled.
“For fifteen years—effectively spanning three elections—he has been losing. Sonia-ji’s dream of seeing her son become Prime Minister remains unfulfilled. She has come up with a new approach: holding a ‘mock parliament’. I would like to tell Rahul-ji: if you want to be Prime Minister, then just stay in a ‘mock parliament’ for the rest of your life—because your turn is never going to come,” Shah said.
Shah also criticised the timing of the rally, saying traders in Delhi had requested the Opposition to postpone it until after Diwali because of the festive business season. He also referred to the anti-Sikh riots of 1984, describing the date of the rally as a dark day.
BJP MP Sambit Patra questioned the INDIA bloc’s claim that 10 lakh people would attend the rally, alleging that a significant portion of Ramlila Maidan remained vacant.
Patra claimed that around 5,000 to 7,000 chairs out of the 28,000 at the venue were vacant between 3.30 pm and 4 pm. He also alleged that 40 per cent of the ground was empty.
“You can see in the background that 40 per cent of the Ramlila Maidan, 40% of the space, was vacant. Rahul Gandhi and his team claimed that 10 lakh people would attend. Out of 28,000 chairs, around 5,000–7,000 were empty at 3:30–4 PM. This is the reality behind Congress’s claim of 10 lakh attendees,” he said.
Responding to Rahul Gandhi’s allegations about the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Patra pointed out that Gyanesh Kumar became Chief Election Commissioner in 2025 and was not in the position during the 2024 polls.
“Rahul Gandhi said the 2024 election was illegal. Gyanesh Kumar was not even there during the 2024 elections. He became the Election Commissioner in 2025,” Patra said.
He also challenged the Congress leader and other Opposition parties to approach the courts if they believed the election was illegal.
Union Minister Giriraj Singh also targeted Rahul Gandhi, claiming that despite the Opposition’s announcement of a 10 lakh turnout and participation from several parties, a significant portion of the venue remained empty.
“The truth has been exposed. Announcements of 10 lakh people, bringing people from across the country through 20 parties by paying them, and yet half of Ramlila Maidan remained empty. The capacity of Ramlila Maidan is only 50,000,” he said.
Targeting Rahul Gandhi, he added, “In such a situation, Rahul Gandhi ji, your ‘urban Naxal’ act is being exposed.”
Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya also described the rally as a failure and claimed that the BJP would return to power in the state in 2027 and at the Centre in 2029.
“In 2027, we will cross the 300-seat mark for the third time. The BJP will form the government once again. The BJP will also form the government in 2029… Their event at Ramlila Maidan has been a flop,” he said. (ANI)
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