New Delhi, 28 October (H.S.): The opposition INDIA bloc has announced that it will hold a public impeachment event against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on October 30.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a post on social media platform X on Wednesday that the event would be held at 3.30 pm on Friday at 10 Rajaji Marg in New Delhi, after permission to organise it at other venues was denied.

Ramesh accused the Chief Election Commissioner of violating the spirit and provisions of the Constitution. He alleged that Kumar had systematically undermined the foundations of India’s electoral democracy.

Earlier, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had written to all concerned party members, urging them to participate in the event. The Congress had initially planned to organise the programme on a larger scale. According to Congress general secretary K. C. Venugopal, the party had faced difficulties in securing a suitable venue for the proposed event against the Chief Election Commissioner.

Venugopal said that although permission had initially been granted to hold the programme at the Ashoka Hotel, the hotel management declined to host it following police intervention. The Congress subsequently considered organising the event at Ramlila Maidan. However, the party said that despite seeking to book the venue from October 25 to November 3, it did not receive permission to hold the programme there on October 30.

The Delhi Police, however, clarified on Tuesday that it had not withdrawn permission for the INDIA bloc’s rally scheduled to be held at Ramlila Maidan on November 1. According to the police, a no-objection certificate (NOC) had been issued from the law-and-order perspective, subject to obtaining prior approval from the land-owning authority. The official communication dated October 17 pertained to the Congress’s request to book Ramlila Maidan from October 25 to November 3 for the November 1 rally.

The Congress and its INDIA bloc allies are scheduled to hold a mega rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan on November 1 under the slogan “Save the Vote, Save the Nation”. The protest is aimed at highlighting alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The campaign will be conducted in multiple phases from October 26 to November 26.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar