India: Opposition March in Delhi Demands Election Chief Resign as Police Seal Rally Site
India's capital Delhi braced on Sunday, November 1, for a major opposition march and rally demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over a controversial revision of voter lists. Security personnel carrying batons and shields, accompanied by riot control vehicles, surrounded the rally site, and Delhi Traffic Police warned of traffic regulations and diversions as required.
The nearly 1.5 km (1 mile) march from Central Delhi to the Ramlila Maidan ground is to be led by Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi. The opposition says it expects hundreds of thousands of people to participate in what it calls a major challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Senior police officer Rohit Rajbir told news agency ANI that people had started arriving and arrangements were in place at the venue and along the route.
The protests erupted after The Indian Express reported in September that Kumar's two deputies had raised several concerns internally about voter list revisions, registration procedures and digital systems. The revision, which began last year, removed over 130 million names, including 28 million people who had died, 63 million who had relocated and 30 million who could not be traced. Opposition parties, student organisations and a youth-led party have held near-daily demonstrations since last month.
The Election Commission has denied favouring any party and said wrongly deleted voters can re-enrol, while the BJP has accused rivals of trying to undermine democracy by questioning legitimate electoral processes. Analysts say the youth protests and growing opposition support form the worst crisis for Modi since he came to power in 2014, though his government remains stable and the next general election is not due until 2029.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 照片：印度德里拉姆利拉广场（资料图），Ekta Parishad 摄，Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA 3.0 授权 / Photo: Ramlila Maidan, Delhi, by Ekta Parishad, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
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