Published Sep 30, 2026 | 4:24 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 30, 2026 | 4:32 PM
INDIA Bloc meeting
The opposition is going to carry its campaign against the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to every district in the country, it was decided at the INDIA bloc meeting on Wednesday, September 30.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge announced that district-level Save Democracy marches will be held from October 2, Gandhi Jayanti, to October 8. The Opposition will also be marching to the Election Commission’s headquarters on October 6.
Other measures announced in the plan of action post the meeting were:
“Discussions lasted around three-and-a-half hours. Many leaders shared their views. Uddhav Thackeray ji and Hemant Soren ji also shared their views. Everyone has decided to fight together in a united manner,” Kharge said.
Earlier, Kharge, in his opening remarks at the meeting, had called for using pre-SIR (Special Intensive Revision) electoral rolls for future elections, and also demanded a return to ballot paper voting instead of the EVMs.
The alliance meet was attended by key participants including Sonia Gandhi, Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi, AICC general secretaries Jairam Ramesh and KC Venugopal, along with TMC leaders Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee. According to The Hindu report, leaders from various parties such as the SP, CPI, CPI(M), NCP(SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT) were also in attendance.
“They looted in Bengal. We went to ECI and the Supreme Court. Now everything is out in the open. Gyanesh Kumar is a thief. He burnt EVMs. He must resign immediately. Let’s save democracy,” Mamata Banerjee was quoted as saying.
Speaking to the press, after the meeting, Rahul Gandhi reiterated, “We all believe that the BJP, Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and Gyanesh Kumar have attacked the democratic system. We are not going to take this lying down. We are going to ensure, and this is a personal commitment of all INDIA leaders, that the people who have destroyed Indian democracy are punished. It does not matter how senior they are or who they are. Indian democracy is bigger than every single person in this country.”
“There was also a feeling that the Opposition has been quite successful in putting across to the people of India that elections are being stolen, and that Narendra Modi and Amit Shah have destroyed Indian democracy.”
“There is a new sense of resistance, particularly among young people, who believe that what is happening in India is wrong and needs to be stopped. I also want to remind all Opposition leaders that they are the collective defenders of the Indian Constitution. We are confident that, over the next few months, we will bring about significant changes in the country,” he added.
After the meet, TMC chief and West Bengal’s former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said, “Today, a big scam has happened in the country—whose consequences the public is suffering. BJP, in collusion with the Election Commission, formed governments in different states.”
Training guns at the CEC, she said, “If Gyanesh Kumar does not resign, we people will launch a massive movement. We will all unite and fight against this ‘vote theft’, we will fight, we will win.. We will protect democracy and the Constitution.”
Meanwhile, among the alliance partners in Tamil Nadu, the Vijay-led TVK was not in attendance. Earlier too, for the 8 June meet, the TVK was absent, and according to reports, it reasoned that it skipped the meet as it had no MP representation.
DMK spokesperson TKS Elangovan, speaking in Chennai, had stated on September 29 that his party wanted Gyanesh Kumar out too.
“Ideologically, we all stand together. Maybe we are not part of the INDIA alliance. That is different. But in Parliament, we will support whoever brings a removal motion against Gyanesh Kumar… our leader had issued a statement. On many of the issues where other opposition parties oppose the BJP, we will also stand by them. That doesn’t mean that we are together. We are not in the INDIA bloc,” he said.
#WATCH | Chennai, Tamil Nadu: On Akhilesh Yadav’s absence from the INDIA bloc meeting, DMK Spokesperson TKS Elangovan says, “Many of the parties there do not want to go with Congress, but ideologically, they are united. They share the same view and will oppose the BJP. Therefore,… pic.twitter.com/hQHoUnTyEn
— ANI (@ANI) September 29, 2026
Also Read: ‘SIR is a bloodless political genocide to exterminate citizenship’: Dr Parakala Prabhakar
Focusing on the concerns regarding the Election Commission of India, especially following the Indian Express expose that laid bare the ruptures within the Commission and suggested that the Chief Election Commissioner had acted on his own on many occasions, Kharge said, “Across the country, citizens and political parties are raising grave concerns about functioning of the Election Commission.”
Noting that the principle of adult franchise is facing a serious threat, Kharge said, “Members of the Constituent Assembly – the framers of India’s Constitution in their collective wisdom underscored the importance of ‘representativeness’ of our democracy. Hence, they very well asserted that democracy has meaning only when the vote of every eligible citizen carries equal value. That is why the principle of one person, one vote, one value lies at the heart of our Republic.”
Accusing the ECI of dismissing their complaints about voter-list manipulation and unexplained changes to electoral rolls, and of responding with the SIR instead of addressing the allegations, Kharge said Rahul Gandhi had earlier presented what it describes as evidence of irregularities in Mahadevpura, Aland, Haryana and Maharashtra.
He also added that other INDIA bloc parties raised similar objections, but that the Commission did not acknowledge them.
“In a democracy, institutions must earn public trust through transparency,” Kharge said, adding that the Commission “looked the other way” until it was confronted with enough data.
Kharge further argued that when such an exercise leads to very large numbers of voters being excluded, or being asked to prove their eligibility again, the burden should fall on the system to ensure that no genuine voter is disenfranchised.
The bloc claimed that about 13.3 crore voters have been removed from the rolls, calling the figure “shocking” and saying these citizens have lost their ability to take part in the democratic process.
“It is ordinary voters who should be deciding who comes to power, rather than those who are in power,” the leader said.
Kharge reiterated: “So our position must be unequivocal: No genuine Indian citizen should be forced out of the electoral process through an opaque, arbitrary or inadequately supervised exercise. If names are deleted, we must know who was deleted. We must also know why. There can be no credible election without an Independent and impartial Election Commission as envisioned in Article 324 of the Constitution.”
Referring to the Indian Express report, Kharge said, “Today our Chief Election Commissioner stands totally exposed. His two fellow members have written 14 times in 10 months! It questions his very integrity and intentions. Therefore, he should be removed from his position. If he has even an iota of Constitutional or moral shame left in him, he will resign himself and turn approver against the powers who are interfering in our ELECTORAL ROLLS!”
Kharge also accused the Modi government of undermining the Election Commission’s independence, linking the 2023 law on poll-panel appointments to the ongoing voter-roll controversy.
Kharge said the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act removed the Chief Justice of India from the selection panel and replaced him with a Union Minister. He also pointed to a provision barring courts from entertaining civil or criminal proceedings against a current or former CEC or EC for official acts, which he described as “blanket immunity for life.”
“Now we know why” the law was brought, Kharge said, alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah wanted a “rubber stamp” to help them remain in power. He called them “the real culprits” and said the Commission had acted as a “facilitator rather than an impartial arbitrator.”
Also Read: Why CEC Gyanesh Kumar should resign, and why the appointment process needs to change too
The Congress leader, calling on the “millions of young Indians who become eligible to vote every year,” said, “By changing the rules in Form 6 for enrolling first-time voters by the Election Commission, the youngsters are deliberately being discouraged from voting.”
Kharge, however, emphasised, “India wants your voice. India needs your vote. Your citizenship gives you that right. Let your voice be heard.”
Kharge also said his party’s position on Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) must be clear, calling for a return to paper ballots to restore public faith and confidence in India’s election system.
The leader further alleged that the BJP decides on the use of EVMs “as per its needs,” and, citing Rahul Gandhi, said the machines could be used “to win, get a hung house or lose an election.” He said the opposition “cannot allow them to use these machines any further.”
He ended the speech by noting: “We will not allow transparency to be replaced by secrecy. And we will not allow the fundamental principle of our Republic— one person, one vote, one value— to be weakened. The ballot belongs to the people. The mandate belongs to the people. So the power of government ultimately rests in the hands of the people. Our task today is to ensure that the people of India remain the final and unquestioned authority in our democracy. With these words I end my speech.”
Also Read:
‘Gyanesh Kumar, his bosses are violating the law’: Former minister in Modi Cabinet hits out at CEC
Call for poll panel chief’s resignation: SIR row hits the streets; protesters detained in Delhi
(Edited by Sumavarsha)
