‘Save the Vote, Save the Country’: Gandhi mobilises support for Delhi rally on Nov 1
. . . accuses ruling BJP of ‘stealing’ votes, alleges over 130 million names removed from voter lists
• Congress leader calls for nationwide mobilisation against alleged voter deletions as opposition protests intensify over electoral roll revision.
Congress leader and Member of Parliament Rahul Gandhi has called on students, farmers, workers, women, young people and traders to join a “Save the Vote, Save the Country” march and rally in New Delhi on November 1, escalating the opposition’s campaign against the ongoing revision of electoral rolls.
The rally is scheduled to take place at Ramlila Maidan, where Gandhi and other opposition voices are expected to raise concerns over alleged large-scale deletions of voters’ names and violations of electoral rules.
In a post on social media platform X, Gandhi accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of “stealing” votes, alleging that names had been removed from voter lists and that rules and laws had been violated. He warned that people would no longer remain silent over the issue.
The announcement comes amid mounting protests by opposition parties and various organisations against the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The exercise has reportedly resulted in more than 130 million names being allegedly removed from draft electoral rolls across India, intensifying concerns among opposition groups about the potential exclusion of eligible voters.
Earlier this month, a bloc of opposition parties staged a protest in New Delhi demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged misconduct. The opposition has also questioned whether the electoral roll revision could disenfranchise eligible voters and provide an advantage to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP.
Several organisations, including the youth-led Cockroach Janta Party, have joined protests against the exercise, adding to the pressure on election authorities to address concerns over the revision process.
The Election Commission, however, has defended the exercise, describing it as an administrative process aimed at verifying and updating electoral rolls. The allegations raised by Gandhi and other opposition leaders remain contested, with the November 1 rally expected to bring renewed public attention to the dispute over voter registration and electoral integrity.
The controversy has placed the revision of electoral rolls at the centre of a widening political confrontation, with opposition parties demanding accountability and assurances that eligible citizens will not lose their right to vote.
