Congress president and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday called INDIA bloc leaders to attend a public impeachment programme against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar at his residence in Delhi on October 30, news agency ANI reported.
Source: ANI via LatestLY
"I request you to kindly assemble on 30 October 2026 at 3.30 pm at 10 Rajaji Marg, in connection with the public impeachment of the CEC. Kindly make it convenient to attend," Kharge's letter read, according to ANI.
The Congress said on Tuesday that the programme would be held at Kharge's residence after it accused the government of denying permission for the event at the state-run Ashoka Hotel. Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal alleged the hotel had initially allowed the event but later denied permission following police intervention, and alleged Delhi Police also stopped set-up work at Ramlila Maidan despite permissions — allegations reported by 7Globe in its account of Venugopal's statement. "How many permissions will you deny, Mr Amit Shah? How many people will you stop?" Venugopal said, as quoted in that report.
Source: 7Globe
Oct 30 programme, Nov 1 march
The October 30 proceeding is a symbolic, public programme announced earlier by the bloc — PTI reported on October 25 that INDIA bloc leaders would hold a 'public impeachment' of the CEC on October 30 and announce a public verdict against him, with a 'mock Parliament' planned and opposition MPs and top leaders expected to attend.
Source: PTI via The Hindu BusinessLine
Venugopal had said the bloc would follow the October 30 programme with a 'Dilli Chalo' march culminating at Ramlila Maidan on November 1 against what the opposition calls 'vote chori', PTI reported.
The opposition INDIA bloc has been protesting against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and demanding the resignation or removal of CEC Gyanesh Kumar over alleged electoral irregularities and concerns about voter deletions, ANI reported. The allegations are the opposition's; the Election Commission has previously defended the SIR exercise as lawful, and told the Supreme Court this week that its SIR decisions were unanimous.