Opposition rallies intensify as Supreme Court to hear petition to suspend Election Chief

On Monday, a Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana will hear a batch of petitions demanding the suspension of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The petitions allege that Kumar approved actions related to the Election Commission’s special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls without the required approval of Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, who have recorded at least 14 objections in the past ten months.

Protesters have continued to gather, with police erecting barricades in central Delhi to prevent marches toward Jantar Mantar and detaining party-affiliated activists and students. In Mumbai, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navanirman Sena leader Raj Thackeray led demonstrations, while the Cockroach Janta Party announced a Delhi rally for October 10. Opposition parties, including the INDIA bloc and Congress, plan further marches on October 6-7, citing Justice Ujjal Bhuyan’s remarks that any process disenfranchising millions violates the Constitution. The BJP defended the SIR, saying the draft roll merely flags 130 million names as dead, absent, shifted or duplicate rather than deleting them.