Thousands march to India's Supreme Court demanding election chief quit over voter fraud

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - NEW DELHI — Tens of thousands of protesters from opposition political parties and their supporters converged in New Delhi on Monday, bringing parts of the city to a standstill for a third consecutive day as they demanded the removal of India’s top polling officer over alleged electoral roll fraud.

Despite the heavy security presence, as warned, many responded to the call for a “March for Democracy” by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and turned up at Barakhamba Road, a key office area in New Delhi, carrying banners, plastic horns and flags.

Monday's march was the latest in a series of demonstrations, with thousands of security personnel deployed and roads barricaded in the capital.

Multiple protests have been held in the capital since Oct 10, demanding the sacking of India’s Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, who has overseen a sweeping, controversial revision of electoral rolls that critics say has deleted more than 130 million names, potentially disenfranchising legitimate voters.

The government denies these charges and has instead cracked down heavily on youth protesters, lawyers and journalists, deploying over 30,000 security personnel and detaining thousands of youth on Oct 10 and 11.

Opposition parties allege the electoral revision benefits Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Election Commission and the BJP reject the charge.

Gandhi submitted a petition to India's Supreme Court challenging the process.

Gandhi called "all opposition parties, civil society groups [and] all those who believe in democracy" to join Monday's march.

In a press conference, he shared a letter that he and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge had written to Chief Justice Surya Kant, laying out their concerns with Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's alleged misconduct.

After they filed their petition later in the day, Kant responded by saying the matter was already before the court and therefore sub judice, meaning he could not speak about it.

But he added: "You have my assurance that any such petition shall be heard at the earliest possible opportunity, in accordance with the law."

There was a heavy security deployment in central Delhi and along the route of the march, with restrictions on traffic and on entry and exit at some metro stations.

A bus carrying Gandhi and other opposition leaders made its way to the court from Barakamba Road. Supporters waved flags and chanted his name as the Congress MP and others waved through the windows. Seated a few rows behind him was Neha Bora, a student leader who has gained prominence in the protests.

A few kilometers on, in a place called Mandi House, the bus stopped and Gandhi and a few others climbed on top of the vehicle to wave at supporters lining up the street in the thousands. Many protesters climbed on to other buses parked there, while some waved flags and chanted anti-government slogans to the sound of drums and lots of cheering.

"If they take away our right to vote, what is left with us?" one protester asked an AFP news agency reporter.

Another protester called the march "a fight to save the very fabric" of India, the world's largest democracy.

Over the past week, top opposition leaders, including Gandhi, have been briefly detained several times while leading protests in central Delhi.

On Sunday, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) pressure group said it would continue protesting until Kumar stepped down.

The CJP, which is not a registered political party, successfully led a protest over the summer that culminated in India's federal education minister's resignation. The youth-led party had called for a march on Saturday to Jantar Mantar, the best-known protest site in Delhi where the last set of sit-in demonstrations had also happened.

But authorities in Delhi imposed overarching restrictions that made it almost impossible for protesters to travel and reach Jantar Mantar — trains were cancelled, dozens of metro stations were shut and tens of thousands of police and paramilitary personnel were on the roads to detain protesters.

The Home Ministry has now announced demonstrations will no longer be permitted at Jantar Mantar. Three other sites have been listed as alternatives should permission be granted.

CJP leaders Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were dramatically detained from a plane as they landed in Delhi to join the weekend protest.

They were only released a day later. While Dipke returned home to attend his grandmother's funeral, Das and Ranka held a press conference where they said the protests would continue. Both leaders have said they will seek a new protest date from the police.

Over the weekend, the police detained and released thousands of people, including several journalists. Some videos and photos from the protest show police dragging people, including women, by force and pushing them into buses.

In a statement, Reporters Without Borders condemned the detention of at least 16 Indian journalists.

"Covering events of public interest is not a crime. It is their job. The police's actions against the press are unacceptable," it said.

Rahul Gandhi said that young Indians who had come to peacefully protest with "love in their hearts, not hatred or anger" had been beaten up.

BJP President Nitin Nabin accused opposition parties and the CJP of trying to destabilize India "at the behest of foreign forces" without elaborating on who the forces were.

The BJP has denounced the Congress-led protests. BJP leader and Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said Gandhi and his Congress party “are mounting an attack on the very foundations of India’s vibrant democracy”.

“Now, by marching to the Supreme Court despite the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India declining a meeting, Rahul Gandhi seeks to turn political pressure on the highest court of our land. Constitutional institutions cannot be made answerable to a party’s electoral frustrations,” he added.

Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, a senior political commentator and a Modi biographer, said the ongoing protests reflect the Modi government’s continuing failure to come up with a narrative to counter opposition voices.

“He’s just marshalling policemen and other security forces and passing one executive order after another, instead of coming up with a comprehensive political strategy,” Mukhopadhyay was quoted as saying.