Rahul Gandhi calls 1 November Delhi rally over voter-roll revision; traders urge delay

Centre · 1Rahul Gandhi, India's opposition leader, announced a rally in Delhi on 1 November and urged people to join a protest against voter deletions. 1 Centre · 1The rally is planned by the INDIA opposition bloc at Ramlila Maidan, where organisers expect about one million people. 2 Centre · 1It is part of a campaign demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. 2

Centre · 1The campaign targets the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, which deleted more than 130 million names from draft rolls nationwide. 1 Centre · 1Groups including the youth-led Cockroach Janta Party and the All India Students' Association are also demanding Kumar's resignation after a newspaper investigation alleged impropriety in the revision, according to DW. 1 Centre · 1On 24 October hundreds formed a human chain in Hyderabad demanding the SIR be scrapped. Participants alleged it could disenfranchise nearly half of Telangana's electorate, and the SIR is under way there with final rolls due on 9 November. 1

Centre · 1Gulf News reports that the Chamber of Trade and Industry (CTI), led by chairman Brijesh Goyal, has written again to Gandhi asking him to postpone the rally until after Diwali or move it away from major commercial areas, and sent a copy to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. 2 Centre · 1The CTI says the rally, a week before Diwali, could disrupt at least 20 markets including Chandni Chowk, Sadar Bazar and Karol Bagh, and cause losses of up to Rs10,000 crore (Rs100 billion). It estimates 15,000–20,000 buses could bring protesters and says an earlier 10 October protest at Jantar Mantar cost Rs3,000 crore. 2 Centre · 1Gulf News notes these figures are the traders' claims and have not been independently verified. 2

Centre · 1The CTI proposed Burari Grounds or Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium as alternative venues. Individual traders, including Mukesh Gupta of the Bengali Market Traders Association and sweet-shop owner Varjesh Aggarwal, acknowledged the right to protest but asked for the timing or location to change. 2 Centre · 1Gandhi indicated on Monday 26 October that the rally would go ahead. In a post on X he said the protests could end within 30 seconds if Prime Minister Narendra Modi removed Kumar, and he blamed the government for shutting Metro services and sealing roads. 2 Centre · 2DW reports Gandhi accused the ruling BJP of "vote theft". Gulf News stresses that the allegations against Kumar remain political claims by the opposition. 2 1