INDIA bloc plans protest march in Delhi on Monday, seeks CJI's intervention

On Monday, the Congress and the entire INDIA bloc and the country's youth will again take to the streets in massive numbers, said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi

The INDIA bloc will hold a protest march in Delhi against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh on the 'vote chori' issue on Monday, while a delegation of its senior leaders will submit a memorandum to the Chief Justice of India for his intervention in the matter.

On Monday, the Congress and the entire INDIA bloc and the country's youth will again take to the streets in massive numbers. This time too, the voice will echo across the nation louder than ever before, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said.

"We will also meet the Chief Justice (of India) and demand that when the Constitution is being torn to shreds on Delhi's streets and democracy is being crushed, the guardians of the law cannot sit with blindfolds on," he said.

 

"Will we stay silent while the Constitution is ripped apart? That will never happen. We will ensure accountability is fixed!" he added.

Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal said the party appeals to every Indian concerned about democracy's survival to join the INDIA bloc's "massive" protest march in Delhi on Monday against the nationwide "vote chori" orchestrated by the Modi-Shah regime.

"Yesterday, we held a comprehensive meeting with various leaders to prepare for this march," he said.

"INDIA bloc MPs, leaders, workers and all concerned citizens will hold a huge protest march against Gyanesh and Co, and a delegation of our senior leaders will submit a memorandum to the Hon'ble CJI (Surya Kant) for his intervention in this crisis," the Congress general secretary said.

"Gyanesh must go. There will be no backing down," he added.

The remarks come a day after INDIA bloc leaders met President Droupadi Murmu and raised its "vote chori" claim to demand Gyanesh Kumar's resignation and repeal of all Assembly polls held in the last two years.

After the meeting, Rahul Gandhi said he was "shocked" that the president did not deny the "election theft" charge.

Gandhi also said the opposition leaders would go to the Supreme Court on Monday to meet Chief Justice Surya Kant and hand over a memorandum to him, as they wanted to avail all options available.

The opposition grouping has taken to the streets since Tuesday, when it first marched from Parliament to the Election Commission's office, but was stopped on the way, with Rahul Gandhi staging an eight-hour sit-in inside the Akashvani Bhawan complex.

On Wednesday and Thursday, the opposition MPs had lunch in central Delhi, then staged a march, first to Jantar Mantar and then to Rajghat on Thursday, alleging that Modi, Shah and the CEC hijacked the country through a criminal conspiracy of vote chori.

The opposition's aggressive push comes days after a report in The Indian Express highlighted internal differences in the poll body, with election commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi objecting on record at least 14 times in the last 10 months, including on Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Last week, the INDIA bloc finalised a joint action plan on the SIR row, including holding rallies and "save democracy" marches.