Security personnel carrying batons and shields deployed around a planned opposition rally in New Delhi on Sunday, November 1, as protesters prepared to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, France 24 reported.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was due to lead a roughly 1.5-kilometre march to Ramlila Maidan. Opposition organisers predicted hundreds of thousands of participants, but the report did not establish an actual turnout. Delhi Traffic Police warned of diversions, while footage from news agency ANI showed riot-control vehicles outside the venue.
The confrontation follows near-daily demonstrations since October by opposition parties, student organisations and the youth-led Cockroach Janta Party. They oppose voter-list revisions that critics allege benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.
France 24 reported that the revisions, begun in 2025, removed more than 130 million names from electoral rolls. Opposition parties allege that Muslim voters and other minorities were disproportionately affected. The Election Commission and BJP reject that allegation.
The commission says it has not favoured any party and that voters whose names were wrongly deleted can register again. The BJP accuses its opponents of undermining democracy by challenging legitimate electoral procedures.
Calls for Kumar’s resignation followed a September report by The Indian Express that his two deputies had internally raised concerns about the revisions, voter registration and digital systems. Despite the protests, France 24 described Modi’s government as stable, with the next general election not due until 2029.