{"id":2573,"date":"2026-10-12T19:05:49","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T14:05:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2573"},"modified":"2026-10-12T19:05:49","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T14:05:49","slug":"india-opposition-parties-march-to-supreme-court-against-election-chief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2573","title":{"rendered":"India opposition parties march to Supreme Court against election chief"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Hundreds of opposition party demonstrators marched to India\u2019s Supreme Court on Monday to protest the removal of millions of names from voter \u200clists that has sparked days of unrest in the Indian capital and challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Opposition parties and supporters of the \u201ccockroach\u201d youth movement have taken to the streets almost daily this month to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the revision that critics say benefits Modi\u2019s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).<\/p>\n

The change that started last year led to over \u200b130 million names \u2014 more than the population of Japan \u2014 being struck from voter lists, including 28 million who had died, 63 million who \u200bhad relocated, and 30 million who could not be traced.<\/p>\n

Police detained thousands of protesters over the weekend, including leaders of the \u2018Cockroach \u2060Janta Party\u2019 (CJP), as supporters of the youth movement sought to march in protest and were stopped by thousands of security personnel who locked down central Delhi.<\/p>\n

The \u200bElection Commission has denied favouring any party and said wrongly deleted voters can re-enrol, while the BJP has accused its rivals of trying to undermine the country\u2019s \u200bdemocracy by wrongly questioning legitimate electoral processes.<\/p>\n

Opposition parties are marching to the Supreme Court to file a petition over the voter list revision after Chief Justice Surya Kant declined their request for a meeting.<\/p>\n

Kant said the issues were already before the court and discussing pending cases would violate judicial ethics and propriety, and suggested the opposition file a petition instead.<\/p>\n

Hundreds \u200bof people, including opposition party members and left-wing student groups, marched to the court on Monday, while leaders travelled by bus.<\/p>\n

\n
\"<\/picture><\/div>
Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi holds a doll depicting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as opposition parties march to the Supreme Court to protest a controversial revision of voter lists that has sparked days of unrest, in New Delhi, India, on October 12, 2026. Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe fundamental values of this country are \u200bbeing assaulted; institutions are losing their independence\u2026 I am here to protest against this assault,\u201d said Anirudh Siyag, a PhD student who joined the protest.<\/p>\n

Authorities closed six metro stations for \u200c10 hours \u2060and restricted traffic along over 20 stretches in anticipation of the demonstration.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of security personnel in anti-riot gear were also deployed in central Delhi, with key roads barricaded and water cannons on standby.<\/p>\n

<\/a>New sites for protests<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The BJP said the protests were the main opposition Congress party\u2019s attempt to seize power.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy discrediting constitutional institutions, spreading chaos and riots on the streets, and attacking people in the name of politics, all it seeks is a return to power,\u201d Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan \u200btold reporters.<\/p>\n

Delhi Police announced that Jantar Mantar \u200bin the central business district was \u2060no longer designated as an official protest site and three new venues had been identified, according to an official order seen by Reuters.<\/p>\n

CJP supporters had staged a sit-in for weeks earlier this year at Jantar Mantar, a historic observatory \u200band a well-known protest site for decades, to force Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to quit over exam paper leaks.<\/p>\n

Separately, CJP \u200bleaders met Delhi Police \u2060to \u201cdemand\u201d a date for a peaceful protest, threatening to announce a new protest call if a date is not given within 24 hours.<\/p>\n

The youth movement, which has mobilised protests in recent months against issues ranging from government school infrastructure to jobs, is one of the biggest political challenges to Modi and his BJP in his 12 years \u2060in power.<\/p>\n

The \u200bprotests erupted after the Indian Express<\/em> newspaper reported last month that Kumar\u2019s two deputies raised \u200bseveral concerns internally about voter list revisions, registration procedures and digital systems.<\/p>\n

Opposition parties allege Muslim voters and other minorities, who are unlikely to support the Hindu nationalist ruling party, are disproportionately affected by \u200bthe deletions \u2014 charges both the poll panel and BJP reject.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hundreds of opposition party demonstrators marched to India\u2019s Supreme Court on Monday to protest the removal of millions of names from voter \u200clists that has sparked days of unrest in the Indian capital and challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Opposition parties and supporters of the \u201ccockroach\u201d youth movement have taken to the streets almost daily this month to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the revision that critics say benefits Modi\u2019s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The change that started last year led to over \u200b130 million…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2573\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}