March to the Election Commission: INDIA bloc demands ballot papers and the CEC's resignation

NEW DELHI — The opposition INDIA bloc will march to the Election Commission's headquarters on October 6, escalating its campaign against what it calls the theft of India's elections. The march was announced by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge after a meeting on September 30 of 21 opposition parties, including the Congress, the Samajwadi Party, the Trinamool Congress, the Shiv Sena (UBT), the RJD, the CPI(M), the CPI, the JMM, the CPI-ML, the MDMK and the VCK, with independent MP Kapil Sibal also attending. Every party, Kharge said, was "100 per cent" agreed: all future elections must be conducted on paper ballots, not electronic voting machines. Kharge laid out six demands: elections must use the pre-revision electoral roll, with constituency and booth-level detail published for every addition, deletion and correction; no voter should be removed without notice, reasons and an effective right of appeal; eligible voters must be protected from exclusion caused by administrative failure or lack of documentation; voting must return to ballot papers; registration must be simpler for first-time voters; and the Commission must be accountable enough to command the confidence of all parties. He claimed 13.3 crore voters — more than 130 million — had been removed from the rolls, and demanded the resignation or removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Kharge charged that "the real puppeteers" of the Commission are Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, adding that the laws framed by this "chori government" should be annulled. Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi told the assembled leaders that "the democratic structure of India has been attacked" and that those responsible would be punished. Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee called Kumar a "chor" who must resign immediately, warning that the agitation would spread "from mitti to aasmaan" — to every corner. The meeting came days after The Indian Express reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had objected on record at least 14 times over the past ten months to Special Intensive Revision orders that, they said, were issued without their knowledge or recommendation. The Commission responded that differing views are a normal part of deliberations in any institution and that all its orders carry full legal sanction and follow established statutory procedures. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a public interest plea by K.A. Paul seeking a return to ballot papers. A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and P.B. Varale observed that allegations of EVM tampering often arise from electoral losses, and found no substantive evidence of systemic problems with the machines. At a 'Samvidhan Abhiyaan' event at Delhi's Talkatora stadium, Kharge urged Rahul Gandhi to launch a Bharat Jodo Yatra-scale campaign for ballot papers, warning that "the votes of all the poor and oppressed communities are going to waste." Kharge also said the parties would appeal to the Supreme Court to expedite the cases concerning the SIR and electoral malpractices.