New Delhi: Supporters of various INDIA bloc parties have gathered at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan, while party workers assembled at different locations across the national capital Sunday ahead of the Opposition alliance’s ‘Chalo Dilli’ protest against alleged electoral irregularities and demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Senior leaders, including former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, CPI(M) general secretary MA Baby, CPI general secretary D Raja, CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, among others, reached Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence, from where they proceeded to Minto Road in an open bus to stage a march up to Ramlila Maidan.
Crowd swelled at the protest venue around noon, with supporters and party workers of the INDIA bloc parties, as well as their youth and student organisations displaying placards and raising slogans against the SIR exercise, and demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Many supporters arrived in Delhi Sunday morning, while several others had reached the national capital Saturday or earlier as parties mobilised their cadres from different states for the protest.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had Saturday urged people coming to Delhi for the protest to also shop from local traders ahead of Diwali, Chhath and Bhai Dooj, asserting that the Opposition’s programme would not hurt businesses.
In a video message posted on X, Gandhi said lakhs of people were expected to reach the capital and urged them to support small traders. “Along with protesting, marching and attending the rally tomorrow, do a little shopping too,” he said, accusing the BJP of spreading rumours because it was “scared” of the Opposition’s mobilisation.
The ‘Chalo Dilli’ mobilisation will begin with a march from the Minto Road-Connaught Place junction at noon, and culminating at Ramlila Maidan, where the INDIA bloc will hold a rally. Senior alliance leaders are expected to travel in open buses from Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence to the starting point of the march.
At Ramlila Maidan, a large tricolour canopy has been erected over the main stage for senior opposition leaders, while a second stage is being arranged for representatives of the INDIA bloc state units. Rows of white canopy tents have been put up, metal barricades installed to regulate movement, and temporary platforms have been assembled.
Separate entry gates and enclosures are being arranged for different categories of attendees. Organisers have also been asked to deploy volunteers to regulate the crowd, arrange drinking water and separate toilets for women, and coordinate parking with the traffic police.
Overnight stay at the venue is not permitted.
The INDIA bloc has said it expects a turnout of up to 10 lakh people, while Delhi Police expects around 50,000. Ramlila Maidan can accommodate 45,000 to 50,000 people when empty, but its capacity is estimated to come down to 30,000-40,000 with chairs, enclosures and designated passageways in place.
Space outside the ground will be kept for crowd spillover.
More than 4,000 police personnel, along with Central Armed Police Forces companies, are being deployed for security and crowd management along the march route and at the venue. The ground has been divided into 14 zones, each supervised by an officer of assistant commissioner rank. More than 200 CCTV cameras, drones and body-worn cameras will be used for surveillance.
The INDIA bloc has appealed to students, youth, women, workers and civil society members to join the protest. The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and student organisations have also extended support to the mobilisation.
The mobilisation follows a symbolic ‘public impeachment’ of Kumar organised by the INDIA bloc at Kharge’s residence on Saturday. Former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar presided over the proceedings, during which Kharge moved a resolution listing the Opposition’s charges against the CEC, and Rahul Gandhi delivered the concluding remarks before it was adopted.
The Opposition has been protesting against what it describes as ‘vote chori’, alleging large-scale deletion of voters’ names during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
