SUNIL NEGI
New Delhi, Nov 2: The INDIA bloc on Sunday held a massive show of strength at Delhi’s historic Ramlila Maidan, protesting against alleged “vote chori” and demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The rally, billed as ‘Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao’, saw opposition workers marching in an open vehicle procession from Minto Road through Connaught Place to Ramlila Maidan, with drums beating and flags waving. Thousands of Youth Congress workers wore white clothes to resemble “ghosts”, symbolising voters who have allegedly been marked dead or deleted from the rolls including the left party workers holding red flags in their hands.
Senior leaders who took the stage included Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Farooq Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti and Tejashwi Yadav.
Rahul Gandhi’s fiery 18-minute speech:
Opening with thanks to INDIA leaders and the crowd that spilled beyond the ground’s boundaries, Rahul launched his sharpest attack yet on the EC.
“This is not regular chori. That is when someone steals something from a shop. This is theft of the voice of every person. In legal parlance, it is called rarest of rare case. It is called treason,” he said.
“Without Gyanesh Kumar, Narendra Modi wouldn’t have become Prime Minister and Amit Shah wouldn’t be Home Minister. What I say comes true. I said something about Covid and it came true. I am saying Gyanesh Kumar will be removed as CEC. He will go to jail,” he thundered to a roaring crowd.
He claimed vote chori has been happening for years in Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Karnataka. “In 2024, there was a 3% difference between NDA and us. It was an illegal election, a stolen election. I am not saying this, the Election Commission is. They removed 13.3 crore voters from the list after 2024. That is one in every seven Indians, 15 per cent of India’s electorate.”
Responding to Home Minister Amit Shah’s recent remark that “Modi is not going anywhere”, Rahul retorted: “Amit Shah said Narendra Modi is not going anywhere. I am telling you Narendra Modi cannot go anywhere. Even if he wants to go, we will not let him. Narendra Modi ji and Amit Shah ji, understand this: after Gyanesh Kumar, we will stand against you and don’t forget that for the vote chori you have done, there will be legal action against you and Narendra Modi.”
He catagorically said warning the trio PM, HM and CEC I can guarantee that all the three these days couldn’t sleep. They can’t. They are in horrific trouble not able to sleep during the nights.
He added a conciliatory ideological note: “This is not the voice of a political party or leaders but the voice of youth, farmers, labourers, and it is declaring that ‘we will not let democracy and Constitution be destroyed in India’. You may be powerful and wealthy, but you are not bigger than Constitution.”
“We do not hate Narendra Modi, Amit Shah or Gyanesh Kumar. For me, there is no enemy. Neither Narendra Modi, nor Amit Shah, nor Gyanesh Kumar. But the voice of every citizen of India is more important to me, even more important than religion. Be it Modi, Shah or Gyanesh Kumar, we will not perpetrate violence against them. We will not attack the RSS or BJP people. We will not spread hatred, we will work with love, but we will not let them destroy the Constitution,” he said.
What other leaders said:
Mallikarjun Kharge said removing Kumar would be “the first step to getting the country on the right track” and demanded a judicial probe into SIR.
Akhilesh Yadav said, “BJP claims to be the world’s largest party, but it has become number one in vote chori.”
Mamata Banerjee cited Bengal examples of mass deletion and addition of voters and said SIR is being used as a weapon against opposition-ruled states.
Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti said Kashmir has seen this “theft” for decades and now the whole country is witnessing it.
Tejashwi Yadav linked the issue to Bihar’s upcoming SIR exercise.
Impact of the rally:
1. Opposition unity on display: First time after Lok Sabha polls that TMC, SP, RJD, NC, PDP shared stage in Delhi on a single-issue plank, signalling INDIA bloc’s revival ahead of state polls.
2. Escalation against EC: A day earlier, the bloc had held a “public impeachment” of the CEC. Sunday’s rally formalised the demand for his resignation, shifting the battle from EVMs to voter rolls.
3. BJP on defensive: BJP called it a “chaotic, unruly spectacle” and questioned the 10-lakh turnout claim, saying 40% of Ramlila ground was vacant. BJP president Nitin Nabin led a counter-rally in Rohtak, Haryana on the same day.
4. Connaught Place shutdown row: Congress alleged shops in CP were forcibly shut by BJP during the march to prevent participation.
5. Legal-political pitch: Rahul’s “jail” and “treason” remarks set the tone for a prolonged legal-political campaign, with Congress hinting at moving courts and Parliament on SIR data.
The rally is being seen as Rahul’s attempt to turn “vote chori” into a national movement similar to Bharat Jodo, with the 13.3 crore deleted voters figure as its central slogan.
