INDIA Bloc’s ‘Chalo Dilli’ Showdown: Rahul Demands Action Against CEC, BJP Raises 1984 Riots

The political confrontation between the BJP and the INDIA bloc intensified on Sunday as opposition leaders descended on Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan for a major protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, with Rahul Gandhi warning that the CEC would be removed from office and sent to jail over alleged irregularities in the electoral process.

Leading the INDIA bloc’s ‘Chalo Dilli’ march, Rahul accused the Election Commission of facilitating “vote chori” through the deletion and addition of names to electoral rolls and alleged manipulation of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). Addressing the gathering, he claimed that electoral malpractice had affected several state elections, including those in Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Karnataka, as well as the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

“This is not an ordinary theft. This is treason,” Rahul said, adding that action would be taken against Kumar and those responsible. He also alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah could not remain in power without the CEC’s support.

The march began at the Minto Road-Connaught Place junction, with Rahul joined by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, among others.

Kharge accused Modi and Shah of attempting to manipulate voters and said the opposition would continue its fight until Kumar left office. Mamata alleged that West Bengal was a victim of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise and vowed to resist it. Akhilesh claimed that large numbers of voters were being removed from electoral rolls in Uttar Pradesh, while Tejashwi Yadav invoked the Mahabharata to attack what he described as electoral manipulation.

The BJP launched a counter-offensive, with Union minister JP Nadda accusing the Congress of attempting to create unrest and disrupt normal life in the capital during the festive season. He described the rally as a calculated conspiracy to push the country towards anarchy.

The November 1 date became a major point of contention, coinciding with the anniversary of the 1984 anti-Sikh violence. Nadda accused the Congress of being insensitive to the victims, while Amit Shah said holding the rally on the date would reopen the wounds of Sikh families.

The BJP organised a separate march in west Delhi’s Hari Nagar, where Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri joined party leaders and supporters in remembering the victims. BJP national president Nitin Nabin also led a ‘Loktantra Bachao, Arajakta Hatao’ march in Haryana’s Rohtak.

The rally also triggered a political exchange over its impact on Delhi’s traders. Rahul had urged participants to shop from local businesses during the festive season but later alleged that shops in Connaught Place had been forcibly shut by the BJP. The police, however, said there were no official orders to close the markets.

Security was tightened across central Delhi, with nearly 10,000 police and paramilitary personnel deployed and more than 200 CCTV cameras installed around the venue. The turnout also became a subject of political dispute, with the opposition projecting a massive gathering while the BJP later claimed that around 40 per cent of the ground remained vacant.