Rahul Gandhi: India’s opposition rallies against voter roll revision exercise

The Election Commission said differences of opinion were normal in any institution and did not affect its functioning.

But concerns over the revision process have continued, with the opposition parties, the CJP and student groups organising a number of protests in Delhi and other Indian cities.

On Saturday, opposition leaders staged a symbolic impeachment of Kumar at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence in Delhi.

The mock parliamentary session, presided over by former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, saw leaders accuse the election chief of “conspiring to steal elections” and deliberately removing 130 million voters from electoral rolls.

Kharge, who is also the leader of the opposition in parliament’s upper house, moved a symbolic motion seeking Kumar’s removal, accusing him of undermining the electoral process and committing an act of “treason against the nation and the Constitution of India”.

Several people whose names had been removed from electoral rolls during the revision exercise also attended the event.

The proceedings were purely symbolic and had no legal standing. Under Indian law, the chief election commissioner can only be removed through a formal parliamentary process.

Prime Minister Modi has not directly commented on the mock impeachment proceedings. However, speaking at a public rally on Friday, he said that “some people” wanted to create chaos across the country so that he could be defamed.

Later on Saturday, while addressing a separate rally, he also accused opposition parties of “abandoning their duty” and “tearing apart the dignity and boundaries of the constitution”.