India's Opposition Takes Its Voter-roll Fight to Ramlila Maidan and Demands the Election Chief Go

What happened

Leaders of the opposition INDIA bloc marched from the Minto Road-Connaught Place junction to Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi on Sunday 1 November for a rally they called "Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao" (save the vote, save the country). Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav, Mamata Banerjee and Tejashwi Yadav were among those on stage, along with Left leaders. Their single demand: that Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar resign or be removed.

What the opposition alleges

The rally targets the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), the Election Commission's door-to-door re-check of the electoral rolls. The day before, at a symbolic "public impeachment" at Mr Kharge's residence, opposition leaders read out six charges against Mr Kumar. According to NDTV, these included conspiring to influence elections, deleting 13.2 crore (132 million) names from the rolls, changing Form 6 (the form first-time voters use) without parliamentary oversight, and taking control of the rolls through the ECINET system. These are allegations. None has been proven in court.

Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said removing Mr Kumar was "the first step" to putting the country "on the right track", and that the CEC would "go to jail". He also questioned the result of the 2024 general election. Akhilesh Yadav focused on Uttar Pradesh, which votes in 2027, and said 1.27 crore names had been removed there. Mamata Banerjee said "Bengal is a victim of SIR".

What the Election Commission and the BJP say

• The Election Commission has called Mr Gandhi's claims about Form 6 "misleading". It says the SIR order was approved unanimously by all three commissioners, and that the Supreme Court upheld it in a judgment on 27 May. In August 2025 Mr Kumar told Mr Gandhi to "produce evidence of voter fraud or withdraw" his remarks.
• The Supreme Court is still examining who introduced changes to the online Form 6. Chief Justice Surya Kant has said the court has not approved any modified version of the form.
• The BJP called the rally a flop. Its MP Sambit Patra said about 40% of the ground was empty, against an opposition claim of 10 lakh (one million) people. Home Minister Amit Shah criticised the choice of 1 November, the anniversary of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

The crowd: nobody agrees

There is no independent count. Congress's Jairam Ramesh called it "a sea of humanity"; the BJP says it was well short of the target. We are not putting a number on it.

Why it matters

An Indian chief election commissioner can be removed only by the same process as a Supreme Court judge, which needs a special majority in both houses of Parliament. The opposition does not have the numbers, so the rally is about public pressure and the 2027 state elections, Uttar Pradesh above all. The Week's analysis calls it a test of whether opposition unity on this issue lasts until then.

If you are a voter in India

Whatever you make of the row, check your own entry. You can search the electoral roll by name or EPIC number on the Election Commission's voter portal or the Voter Helpline app, and use Form 6 to register or Form 8 to correct details. If you think your name was removed in error, contact your Booth Level Officer before the roll for your state is finalised.

What to watch

• The Supreme Court's findings on the Form 6 changes.
• Whether the opposition moves a formal removal motion in Parliament, and how many MPs sign it.
• The final rolls in states where the SIR is running ahead of 2027.

How we wrote this: our staff read the reporting listed below, checked the facts against more than one source where possible, and wrote this piece in our own words. Anything not confirmed is labelled. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.