Authorities shut six metro stations, barricaded major roads and deployed heavy security across central Delhi on Monday as opposition parties and youth activists launched a "Chalo Dilli" march toward the Supreme Court.
The INDIA bloc led by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alongside prominent leaders including Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav, is demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The protests follow controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) voter list updates that deleted over 130 million names a move critics claim disproportionately targets minority voters.
The Election Commission and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have rejected allegations of bias, maintaining that deleted voters can re-enroll through official procedures.
Tensions escalated as the youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) joined the agitation, posing a growing political challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration. Police detained thousands of protesters over the weekend and removed Jantar Mantar as a designated protest site.
Chief Justice of India Surya Kant declined a request to meet opposition leaders with citing judicial ethics since related petitions are already sub judice. However, the court permitted a small delegation of Congress leaders to submit their formal petition at the Supreme Court filing counter.
