India's opposition to hold mega rally in Delhi demanding election chief's resignation amid voter-roll row

India's opposition is set to hold a mega rally in the capital, Delhi, on Sunday, demanding the resignation of the chief election commissioner and electoral reforms. The rally, called by the main opposition Congress party, is due to begin around noon at the famous Ramlila Maidan grounds, where tens of thousands of people are expected to gather.

Congress leaders have claimed that as many as a million people could attend. Several top leaders of the Congress-led INDIA alliance have said they will attend, and the influential Gen Z-led pressure group Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has also pledged its support.

The rally comes amid growing criticism of a voter-list revision exercise under which 130 million names have been removed from the draft rolls across India.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) says the exercise, known as the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), is aimed at updating the voters' list by purging the names of people who have died or moved away from their registered addresses.

Opposition parties, however, allege that the exercise could benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by removing eligible voters from the rolls. They have accused the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and the BJP of 'vote chori', or vote theft. Both the BJP and the ECI have denied the allegations.

The controversy intensified in September, when the Indian Express newspaper reported in an investigation that CEC Gyanesh Kumar made key decisions about the exercise without the agreement of the two other election commissioners, who had raised objections on more than a dozen occasions. The Election Commission said differences of opinion were normal in any institution and did not affect its functioning.

Protests have continued for weeks in Delhi and other Indian cities since then, seeking CEC Kumar's resignation and electoral reforms. Last month, Congress MP and leader of the opposition Rahul Gandhi led tens of thousands of protesters on a march from Connaught Place in central Delhi to the Supreme Court.

One party leader said, 'The march was just the trailer; Sunday's rally will be several times bigger.' Ahead of the rally, Gandhi said the protest was against 'the demolition of Indian democracy' and that everyone who wanted to come, political or non-political, was welcome. 'There is huge anger, huge emotional pain because millions are being disenfranchised,' he said. 'We are all standing together because we are defending the Constitution. We are defending the idea of India. We are defending the vote.'

Delhi police have given permission for Sunday's rally, but with several conditions. According to media reports, the rally must end by 5pm, CCTV cameras must be installed at the venue, and no marches will be allowed outside the designated protest site. Authorities have deployed thousands of police and paramilitary personnel across the city, including on the roads leading to the Ramlila Grounds.

The opposition, which has been preparing for the rally for days, has accused the government of trying to stop people from travelling to Delhi to take part. Gandhi appealed on X for people to turn up in large numbers, writing: 'Don't worry about the police, don't worry about lathis [batons] - the BJP will not have the guts to try any of their antics.'

Earlier, on 10 October, thousands of security personnel were deployed and large parts of the city were shut down to thwart protests called by the CJP against CEC Gyanesh Kumar. All of the CJP's top leaders were detained, and many demonstrators were beaten and dragged through the streets to break up the protests; BBC reporters covering the demonstrations saw police dragging away protesters and using batons on some of them.

The planned rally has also divided opinion among traders in Chandni Chowk, one of Delhi's oldest and busiest markets, less than a kilometre from Ramlila Maidan. Earlier this week, one group of traders said the protest could hurt business during the festive season, coming just a week before Diwali. A rival group said they supported Gandhi's rally and criticised the BJP for taking out a march through the market on Thursday, saying that disrupted the festive season more.