New Delhi: Thousands of opposition supporters gathered in India's capital on Sunday to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over allegations of irregularities in a nationwide revision of electoral rolls. The demonstration, led by senior opposition leaders including Rahul Gandhi, brought together several parties belonging to the INDIA opposition alliance. The protesters marched towards Ramlila Maidan in central New Delhi, carrying Indian national flags and party flags. They accused the Election Commission of India of removing millions of names from voter lists and questioned whether the exercise had unfairly excluded eligible citizens from the electoral process. Rahul Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, addressed the gathering and accused the Election Commission of undermining people's voting rights. He called for Kumar to step down, arguing that the revision of electoral rolls had raised serious questions about the fairness of India's democratic system. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, People's Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti and other opposition figures also participated in the demonstration. Their presence reflected a wider opposition campaign over the voter registration controversy. The INDIA alliance is a coalition of opposition parties formed in 2023 to challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP led National Democratic Alliance. The protest focused on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, an exercise conducted by the Election Commission to update voter registration records. The process is intended to identify and remove duplicate entries, deceased voters and people who have permanently moved away or cannot be traced. However, opposition parties have questioned the scale and implementation of the exercise. They allege that large numbers of eligible voters have been wrongly excluded, potentially denying citizens their right to vote. More than 130 million names have been affected by the revision process, according to figures cited in reports on the exercise. These include people categorised as deceased, permanently shifted, absent or untraceable, as well as duplicate registrations. The figure does not mean that all those affected were eligible voters who were unlawfully removed from the electoral rolls. The Election Commission has defended the revision, maintaining that updating voter lists is necessary to ensure their accuracy and remove ineligible or duplicate registrations. It has rejected allegations of political bias and said that eligible citizens whose names have been omitted can seek inclusion through the prescribed registration procedures. The Commission has also introduced measures to address difficulties faced by voters during the exercise. These include additional assistance from Booth Level Officers, document collection facilities, online hearings and special enrolment camps for people who may have been left out of the revised lists. The controversy has also attracted criticism from international human rights organisation Human Rights Watch. In a statement published on October 28, the organisation raised concerns about the possible exclusion of vulnerable communities, including women, economically disadvantaged people and religious minorities. Human Rights Watch said its investigation, based on interviews with 70 people across Delhi, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Karnataka, identified concerns about documentation requirements, verification procedures and the use of electoral database systems. It called for greater transparency and safeguards to protect eligible voters. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has rejected the opposition's accusations and criticised the demonstration. Senior BJP leader and Union Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda described the protest as a politically organised exercise intended to create disorder. Other party leaders also questioned the opposition's claims about the scale of public participation. The BJP organised counter demonstrations under the slogan "Loktantra Bachao, Arajakta Hatao", meaning "Save Democracy, Remove Anarchy". Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta participated in a march organised by the party in the capital, while similar demonstrations were reported in Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Security arrangements were extensive around Ramlila Maidan and other parts of central Delhi. Thousands of police and paramilitary personnel were deployed, with barricades and surveillance equipment used to manage the gathering. Authorities also introduced traffic restrictions and diversions in several areas. The November 1 demonstration followed weeks of protests that began after reports raised questions about internal disagreements within the Election Commission over voter registration procedures and digital systems. The dispute has also reached the courts. The Supreme Court has raised questions about the Election Commission's handling of the voter revision process, particularly the use of Form 6 for people who were already registered voters but whose names were missing from the draft electoral rolls. On October 29, the court asked the Commission to take steps to contact potentially excluded voters and report back on the measures taken. It also clarified that it had not reached a final decision on the legality of the process used to identify logical discrepancies in voter records. Under Article 324 of the Indian Constitution, the Chief Election Commissioner enjoys protection against removal through an ordinary government decision. The CEC can be removed only through the same procedure and on the same grounds applicable to a Supreme Court judge. The November 1 demonstration highlights a growing confrontation between India's opposition parties and the Election Commission over the accuracy and transparency of electoral rolls. While opposition leaders continue to demand Kumar's resignation, the Commission maintains that the revision is a legitimate exercise to improve voter registration records. With legal proceedings continuing and questions about voter inclusion still under discussion, the controversy is likely to remain an important issue in India's political debate.