Thousands joined an INDIA bloc rally at Ramlila Maidan as Rahul Gandhi called for the chief election commissioner's exit; the Election Commission and the BJP deny the voter-roll allegations.
Thousands of people joined a rally of India's opposition INDIA bloc at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, DW reported on 2 November 2026. Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi told the crowd that Kumar's exit would be “the first step to getting the country on the right track” and warned Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah of legal action over what he called “vote chori”, or vote theft. Senior figures including Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav, Mehbooba Mufti and Tejashwi Yadav were reported among those present.
The rally follows more than a month of protests over a mass revision of India's voter lists that removed more than 130 million names. Opposition parties allege the exercise disproportionately affected Muslims and other minorities, and protesters accuse the authorities of unfairly deleting voters. The Election Commission and Prime Minister Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party deny the allegations, according to DW's description of the dispute. BBC News also published footage on 1 November showing thousands marching to India's Supreme Court to demand the election chief's resignation.
The embedded video is a DW News explainer that outlines what is driving the protest movement and presents the opposition's claims alongside the official denials; it is reporting on the dispute, not evidence that the allegations are true. The accusations of vote theft and the scale and impact of the deletions remain contested, and Reporix has not independently verified the figures. Readers should treat the opposition's claims as allegations and the commission's position as its stated response while the controversy develops.
