Several Left parties and student leaders staged a march in central Delhi on Friday, demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the scrapping of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, ANI reported.

Source: ANI via Daily Jagran

The protesters gathered near Bangla Sahib Gurudwara and Gole Dak Khana and marched towards the Election Commission of India headquarters and Jantar Mantar. The march was called by the Delhi Coordination Committee of People Against SIR and was joined by students, farmers and youth. Senior CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat joined the march, reports said.

CPI leader Annie Raja said the protesters had gathered to oppose what she called the Centre's "fraudulent" methods, telling PTI: "We are here to protect the country from [the] Center's fraudulent methods to destroy the democracy" — the allegation is the protesters'. Opposition parties allege irregularities in the SIR exercise; the Election Commission has defended the revision in earlier statements.

Delhi Traffic Police issued diversions from 1 pm to 5 pm for the expected movement from Bangla Sahib Gurudwara towards Jantar Mantar and advised commuters to avoid the affected roads. Earlier in the day, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi also demanded Kumar's removal, alleging — as an allegation — that the CEC was acting out of loyalty to the Prime Minister and the Home Minister rather than the Constitution.