New Delhi: The opposition’s “vote chori” campaign against the Election Commission reaches its biggest stage yet on Sunday, November 1, when INDIA bloc parties march to Ramlila Maidan under the slogan “Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao”. The parties want Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar removed and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls suspended. The Commission has rejected their allegations.
Organisers have spoken of a turnout of up to 10 lakh. Delhi Police put the ground’s capacity at about 40,000 to 50,000 and planned to deploy around 4,000 personnel. Permission was granted with conditions, including that the event end by 5 pm. The march is set to start near the Minto Road and Connaught Place junction.
The rally caps a campaign that began more than a year ago. In August 2025, Rahul Gandhi led a Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bihar and began accusing the Commission of manipulating voter lists to help the BJP. The Commission said complaints made after the legal window were political statements and asked him to file a sworn affidavit.
Vote chori campaign grew through October
The charges gathered pace in September. On September 23, The Indian Express reported that the other two Election Commissioners had recorded at least 14 written objections over about ten months to decisions linked to the SIR. Gandhi called the arrangement an act of treason.
At a meeting at the Constitution Club on September 30, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge announced a three-stage plan: district-level “save democracy” marches from October 2 to 8, a march by MPs to the Commission, and the Delhi rally. On October 9, INDIA bloc leaders met President Droupadi Murmu with a memorandum seeking the CEC’s removal.
Around October 12, opposition leaders, including Gandhi and Kharge, filed a joint petition in the Supreme Court challenging the SIR, alleging unilateral decisions by the CEC and changes to Form 6. On October 31, the bloc held a symbolic “public impeachment” of Kumar at Kharge’s residence, presided over by former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar. Kharge moved a resolution listing six charges, including the deletion of about 13.2 crore names.
Election Commission says SIR orders were unanimous
The Commission has held its ground. In a counter-affidavit filed in the Supreme Court in late October, it said all three SIR orders, issued in June 2025, October 2025 and May 2026, were unanimous decisions of the three-member Commission, and that Form 6 had not been amended. It said the petition relied on a news report and that the revision was authorised by law. The Commission has also said that names placed in the absent, shifted, dead or duplicate category at the draft stage are not final deletions.
The Supreme Court has given the petitioners about ten days to file rejoinders and has observed that updating electoral rolls is a continuing process. The matter is expected to come up again in mid-November.
The BJP has dismissed the campaign, calling the mock impeachment a drama. Its leaders also criticised the choice of November 1 for the rally, saying it hurt survivors of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, which raged in Delhi in the first days of that November.
Removing the CEC needs a special majority
The opposition says the agitation will go on until Kumar resigns or is removed. Under Article 324(5) of the Constitution, the CEC can be removed only in the manner of a Supreme Court judge, on grounds of proved misbehaviour or incapacity. That requires a notice signed by at least 100 Lok Sabha or 50 Rajya Sabha members, an inquiry by a three-member committee and a special majority in both Houses. The opposition does not have those numbers, and no CEC has ever been removed this way.
That leaves the vote chori fight in the streets and the courts. The Supreme Court hearing later this month and the final electoral rolls in states under revision will decide how much ground the campaign gains.
