PoliticsOpposition
Crowds fill Ramlila Maidan as Delhi puts 10,000 security personnel on duty for INDIA bloc rally
Supporters from Punjab, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh reached the ground on Sunday morning chanting for the Chief Election Commissioner to go. Congress leaders accused the government of making the journey hard, while the BJP readied its own march in west Delhi.
Key points
- About 10,000 police and paramilitary personnel are on duty across central and New Delhi.
- Congress MP Sukhdeo Bhagat said the credibility of the electoral process had been destroyed.
- The BJP's march on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots starts from Hari Nagar at 11:30 am.
Thousands of opposition supporters poured into Ramlila Maidan on Sunday morning, chanting “Vote chor, gaddi chhod” hours before the INDIA bloc’s leaders were due to arrive, as Delhi put about 10,000 police and paramilitary personnel on duty across the centre of the capital.
People from Punjab, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand gathered from early morning, some first assembling outside Himachal Bhawan before walking to the ground. Their demand was the one the bloc has pressed all week: that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resign over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Baljinder Singh, who came from Firozpur, said vehicles from Punjab had been stopped in Haryana and that many supporters were stuck overnight. He said the BJP had “no option other than to make Gyanesh Kumar resign.” Madanpal Singh, secretary of the Uttarakhand Congress, said the crowd would leave “only after the CEC resigns.”
What Congress leaders said
Congress MP Sukhdeo Bhagat said the fight was about saving an institution, and that those responsible should resign on their own. “The credibility of our electoral process has been completely destroyed,” he said, calling the rally “the voice of the people.”
Congress leader Udit Raj accused the government of putting obstacles in the way of people travelling to Delhi, saying no extra coaches or special trains had been added despite requests. “Delhi is jammed from all sides,” he said. He also attacked the 2023 law on the appointment of election commissioners, saying it shields them from action “as long as they live.”
Cameras, drones and Section 163
More than 4,000 of the personnel are posted around the ground and the route from Minto Bridge, with multi-layered barricades near Connaught Place, Jantar Mantar, the Supreme Court and the Election Commission office. Police have imposed Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita in sensitive areas to stop large unauthorised gatherings, and are using drones and AI-enabled facial recognition.
“We have covered the entire area with 200 to 250 CCTV cameras,” said Rohit Rajbir, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central). Corridors to LNJP and GB Pant hospitals are being kept clear for ambulances.
INDIA bloc MPs are due to meet at the Constitution Club at 11 am and march from the Minto Road and Connaught Place junction at noon. Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav, Hemant Soren and Revanth Reddy are among the leaders expected. Traffic curbs in central Delhi run from 10 am to 5 pm.
The BJP’s march in west Delhi
Across town, the BJP is preparing a march on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, held with members of the Sikh community as a counter to the opposition’s show of strength. It sets off at 11:30 am from Hari Nagar bus depot to Tilak Nagar metro station, led by Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, Manjinder Singh Sirsa and MP Bansuri Swaraj. Jail Road between Lajwanti Chowk and Tilak Nagar may be shut from 9 am to 3 pm.