The INDIA bloc's planned "public impeachment" of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has been postponed by a day because of rain. Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, announced on Friday, 30 October, that the programme will now be held on Saturday, 31 October, at the same time of 3:30 pm, after leaders decided by consensus that it would be uncomfortable for senior figures to sit in the rain. It was to be held at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's residence at 10 Rajaji Marg in New Delhi, and Gandhi has also called on students, civil society members, journalists and ordinary citizens to join a march to Ramlila Maidan on Sunday, 1 November. The opposition wants Kumar to resign and has linked the campaign to its charge of "vote theft".
The opposition's case rests on the scale of the revision of the electoral rolls. Al Jazeera reported that the Chief Election Commissioner oversaw the removal of more than 130 million names from the rolls, and critics say the exercise favours the ruling BJP. Jairam Ramesh of the Congress has accused Kumar of violating the letter and spirit of the Constitution and of lying to the Supreme Court, while Gandhi has accused the Prime Minister, the Home Minister and Kumar of the "demolition of Indian democracy". He has also accused the BJP leadership and the industrialists Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani of benefiting from alleged electoral irregularities, a charge for which the reports on the programme give no supporting figures. Gandhi said the Home Minister is trying to stop people from travelling to Delhi from states including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Telangana and Punjab, a claim that has not been independently confirmed. Supporters of the programme add that the formal route is effectively closed to them, so a symbolic hearing is the only forum left. The Congress said on Tuesday that it had been denied permission for the event, and Ramesh said the bloc was refused other venues. The format is a mock sitting of Parliament, with one speaker per party, and leaders from the Congress, TMC, the Samajwadi Party, the JMM, the CPI(M) and the CPI are expected to take part.
The government's side of the argument is that the revision is routine housekeeping. Election authorities have said the changes were made to remove duplicate, deceased and fraudulent entries, and the BJP says its rivals are wrongly questioning legitimate electoral processes. The reports on the postponement carry no response from the party or the Election Commission to the latest allegations. There is also a plain constitutional obstacle. According to the Wikipedia entry on the office, a Chief Election Commissioner can be removed only through impeachment, which requires a two-thirds majority in both houses among members present and voting. The 2024 general election left the NDA with 293 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats and the INDIA bloc with 234. Two-thirds of 543 is 362, so the opposition is far short, and the event carries no legal force.
The dispute matters because the electoral roll is the foundation on which every other result in the country rests. Gyanesh Kumar has held office since 19 February 2025 as the 26th Chief Election Commissioner, and his term can run for up to six years or until he turns 65. If the two sides cannot agree on whether the removal of such a large number of names was justified, the argument will follow every coming state and national election, and it will shape how much trust voters place in results, whichever party wins. The scale of the revision makes the stakes national rather than local.
The mock impeachment will not remove anyone from office, and both sides know it. Its value lies in forcing a public airing of a charge that cannot be tested in Parliament. The Cockroach Janta Party, the youth movement whose founder was detained earlier this month, has also demanded electoral reform and Kumar's resignation, and the political opposition quickly backed those protests. Whether the Saturday event and Sunday's march win wider support or fade like earlier protests will depend on whether the opposition can place firm evidence on the table beside its slogans.
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