Opposition leaders marched to Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi on Sunday, November 1, 2026, and demanded the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged electoral irregularities. The INDIA bloc’s ‘Chalo Dilli’ protest drew supporters and party workers from across the capital, and it turned the simmering row over voter rolls into a open street confrontation with the election authorities.

Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav and Mamata Banerjee travelled in an open bus from Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence to the venue on Minto Road. CPI(M) general secretary M.A. Baby, CPI general secretary D. Raja and CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya also joined the march. Ex-Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar was among the figures on stage.

The rally was the second act of a two-day escalation. On Saturday, October 31, the bloc held a symbolic ‘public impeachment’ of Gyanesh Kumar and adopted a motion by a show of hands. The bloc levelled six charges against him, including conspiring with the ruling BJP to steal elections, deleting 13.2 crore voters through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists, and acting at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. Congress communications head Pawan Khera said Meira Kumar presided over those proceedings from the chair once used by Jawaharlal Nehru.

Addressing the crowd, Rahul Gandhi accused Modi of ‘stealing votes’ and said legal action would be taken against him. He said the Opposition would continue its fight for accountability and justice. He also said he harboured no personal enmity towards Modi, Amit Shah or Gyanesh Kumar, and vowed that the INDIA bloc would reject violence and hatred while defending the Constitution.

Gandhi went further in his claims about the 2024 national election. He said 15% of India’s voters were removed from electoral rolls after the 2024 polls, which he called ‘illegal’ and ‘stolen’. He also alleged vote theft in Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Karnataka. These are allegations made by the opposition leader, and the BJP has rejected the framing of the rally as a legitimate protest.

The government’s response was sharp and personal. Union Minister J.P. Nadda called the rally a ‘foolish, orchestrated drama’ and said India was ‘not some banana republic’ where anyone could incite arson or push an agenda for regime change. He invoked the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, calling November 1 the ‘darkest stain’ on India’s democratic history, and accused the Gandhi family of never offering a sincere apology. Nadda said the Congress has a dark record on the issue.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah said Delhi traders had repeatedly asked the Congress to postpone the rally until after Diwali because of festival-season business concerns. The Chamber of Trade and Industry’s chairman, Brijesh Goyal, said the Delhi traders’ body estimates losses of over Rs 10,000 crore from the rally. Rahul Gandhi, in a post on X, said he found ‘the BJP has forcibly shut down every single shop’ on reaching Connaught Place. Earlier in the day, he had urged rally-goers to shop for Deepavali, Chhath and Bhai Dooj from local traders.

On the ground, the aftermath was visible. Spray-painted slogans including ‘Vote chor, gaddi chor’, ‘Rollback SIR’ and ‘Illegal PM’ appeared along Minto Road, next to discarded plastic bottles and torn placards. Traffic curbs and diversions in Central Delhi ran from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., affecting several major junctions including Netaji Subhash Marg, Delhi Gate and Ajmeri Gate.

K.C. Venugopal, AICC general secretary, framed the day as a message aimed at the top of the government. He said the Opposition’s protest was a warning to the Prime Minister and Home Minister, and insisted the removal would happen.

“They have lost their composure seeing the magnitude of the public support for the protest. The protest is a stern warning to them. Gyanesh will be removed from his post. Take it from us.”

Akhilesh Yadav, the Samajwadi Party chief, called Ramlila Maidan the ‘Haldighati of democracy’. He alleged that votes were stolen and names were removed from voter lists in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, and said the INDIA bloc had submitted affidavits about voters who could not vote, with no action taken. He also questioned Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s figures on reduced votes. Mamata Banerjee said Bengal was a victim of SIR and that her party would fight it through politics and democracy: ‘We will save democracy and bring it back.’

Crowd numbers became a battleground of their own. The Congress claimed 10 lakh people attended. BJP MP Sambit Patra said nearly 40% of Ramlila Maidan was vacant and pointed to empty chairs. CPI(M) MP John Brittas had earlier said more than 10 lakh people would gather and that the ground was already packed before the event began.

Opposition figures also tied the protest to the next stage of the parliamentary calendar. TMC leader Sagarika Ghose said the government could ‘no longer protect’ Gyanesh Kumar and called for formal proceedings during the Winter Session to remove him ‘through due process’. Kharge said the INDIA bloc would not be intimidated by the police, CBI, Enforcement Directorate or other agencies.

The BJP and its allies pushed back on several fronts at once. BJP national president Nitin Nabin was set to lead a ‘Loktantra Bachao, Arajakta Hatao’ march in Rohtak, Haryana, while Dharmendra Pradhan was due to join a similar padyatra in Faridabad. Union Minister Pralhad Joshi mocked Rahul Gandhi’s ‘mock PM’ ambitions. Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde accused the alliance of spreading a ‘fake narrative’. Shiv Sena MP Milind Deora criticised INDIA bloc parties for what he called dynastic functioning. Union Minister Hardeep Puri called the rally a ‘serious political mistake’.

Not every ally spoke with one voice. The Janata Dal (United) questioned the bloc’s unity, saying its parties come together for rallies but contest elections against each other. Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi described the rally as a success that had frustrated the BJP.

The reporting available here does not include a response from the Election Commission. What is clear is that the Opposition has moved the dispute from press statements into the streets of the capital, and the government has moved to meet it head-on.