NEW DELHI: For a third straight day, India’s streets have filled with angry voices demanding the resignation of the nation’s top election official.
Thousands of young people and opposition supporters marched through Mumbai and New Delhi on Sunday, waving tricolour flags and chanting slogans against Election Commission chief Gyanesh Kumar, according to Al Jazeera News.
The unrest erupted after reports emerged that a nationwide voter-roll revision may have deleted millions of eligible voters from electoral lists. Protesters accuse Kumar of orchestrating the purge to favour Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), allegations both the commission and the BJP deny.
In Mumbai, opposition leaders Raj Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray led the charge, addressing crowds who demanded accountability. “It’s the people of this country who should decide who sits in power,” Raj Thackeray declared.
New Delhi saw a quieter but determined turnout. Police moved swiftly to detain demonstrators, as they had on Friday and Saturday, loading dozens into buses. Some were later released; others face charges for violating bans on mass gatherings.
The Election Commission insists the revision aims only to clean up rolls by removing duplicate, deceased or ineligible entries. On Friday, it ordered officials to register eligible voters accidentally left out.
Kumar has remained silent on calls for his resignation. Meanwhile, protests show no sign of fading. An opposition alliance plans a march to the commission’s office on Tuesday to “save democracy”. The youth-led Cockroach Janta Party has called a major rally in the capital on October 10.
“Mumbai is out on the streets again for free and fair elections!” said CJP chief Abhijeet Dipke. “All Indians need to come together. It’s now or never!”
As dusk fell on Sunday, the message from India’s cities was clear: the fight for the ballot box has only just begun.
