Opposition marches to Supreme Court over voter rolls; Rahul leads from open bus

Opposition lawmakers and thousands of supporters marched through Delhi to the Supreme Court on Monday, protesting the Election Commission's nationwide Special Intensive Revision of voter rolls, which they claim has wrongly removed over 130 million names. The marchers submitted a petition to the Chief Justice and demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

Six Delhi Metro stations were shut and traffic was restricted on more than 20 stretches as security was tightened across central Delhi. Rahul Gandhi led the march, riding an open bus and waving a copy of the Constitution, and accused Prime Minister Modi of “protecting” the CEC. Leaders including Mallikarjun Kharge, Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar took part.

The Election Commission and the BJP have denied any manipulation, saying the revision only removes duplicates and ineligible entries and that genuinely deleted voters can re-enrol. The march marks a sharp escalation in the opposition's campaign against the poll body ahead of a string of state elections.