Published Oct 09, 2026 | 10:08 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 09, 2026 | 11:20 PM
The 10-member Opposition delegation that met the President included Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee.
Synopsis: Rahul Gandhi said President Droupadi Murmu sought evidence rather than denying the Opposition’s allegations of “vote chori” during their meeting. The INDIA bloc submitted a memorandum alleging electoral manipulation and demanding CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation and suspension of the SIR exercise. Meanwhile, the ECI capped Form 7 objections at 10 per elector during the claims and objections period.
INDIA bloc leaders, led by Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, on Friday, October 9, met the President of India and submitted a memorandum with demands including the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, suspension of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process and restoration of all voters deleted from the electoral rolls during the exercise.
Speaking to reporters after meeting President Droupadi Murmu, Rahul Gandhi claimed that she did not deny the Opposition’s allegations of “vote chori” but instead sought evidence. Gandhi described the President’s response as “shocking.”
“I sat in quite an unbelievable meeting. First, we took a memorandum to the President of India. In that memorandum, we clearly stated that the Prime Minister, Home Minister Amit Shah, and CEC Gyanesh Kumar had conspired to destroy Indian democracy. The President in no way denied what we said, questioned what we said, or argued. She accepted our statement and then told us that we needed to provide her with proof of ‘election chori,” Gandhi said.
The Congress leader said he expected the President to deny that “vote theft” was taking place in the country.
“The main thing is that I expected the President of India to deny that ‘vote chori’ was taking place. I expected her to say that India has a free and fair electoral system. I was shocked and stunned that the President of India accepted what we said…” he said.
He asserted that the Opposition will provide the evidence for the allegations as demanded by the President.
“I said that the evidence of ‘election chori’ is known to the entire country. State after state has been stolen. The 2024 election was stolen, and yet the President wants us to submit proof to her. This same group of people will be very happy to present the evidence of ‘election chori’ that we have collected to the President of India when she is ready to accept it…” Gandhi said.
The 10-member Opposition delegation that met the President included Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, NCP(SP) leader Supriya Sule, RJD leader Manoj Jha, VCK chief Thol. Thirumavalavan, IUML leader E.T. Mohammed Basheer, CPI(M) general secretary M.A. Baby and CPI general secretary D. Raja.
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In the memorandum submitted to the President, the Opposition claimed to have “incontrovertible proof” of massive “vote theft” in Assembly elections across several states.
“Assembly elections in Haryana, Maharashtra, MP, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Delhi and West Bengal have been stolen. Both the EVMs and the electoral rolls have been completely manipulated by the BJP in several other Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. This is a crime against the nation, and the Chief Election Commissioner has blatantly cheated and lied to the Supreme Court of India to cover up this crime,” they alleged.
The Opposition stressed that the CEC is answerable to the Constitution and not to “his political masters.”
“The Right to Vote is the foundation of representative democracy enshrined in Article 326 of the Indian Constitution. The Election Commission is its constitutional custodian, not its proprietor. He is answerable to the Constitution of India and not to his political masters. No institution can be permitted to alter the rules governing that right, evade accountability for its decisions, and silence those who demand answers through evasion, repression and criminal conduct…” reads the memorandum.
The Opposition’s key demands included the resignation of Gyanesh Kumar and the repeal of the 2023 law that provides life-long immunity to the CEC and ECs; immediate suspension of the SIR and immediate restoration of all 13.30 crore voters illegally deleted from electoral rolls; a return to paper ballots for all elections; repeal of all Assembly elections over the last two years in which conclusive evidence of vote chori has been presented.
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Amid the backlash over reports of bulk filing of Form 7 applications, the ECI on Friday capped the number of objections an individual elector can file against entries in the electoral rolls.
Under the revised rules, an elector can submit a maximum of 10 Form 7 applications during the entire claims and objections period. During the continuous updating of electoral rolls, the limit is five applications per month.
“The Chief Electoral Officers of the states and Union Territories have informed us that instances of individual electors filing Form 7 objections in bulk have come to our notice. Such filings, allegedly made without substantiated grounds, were causing avoidable inconvenience to electors whose names were being challenged and increasing the workload of Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and other field-level functionaries,” the ECI said in a statement.
(Edited by Fayisa CA)
