New Delhi, 1 November (H.S.): Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Sunday launched a sharp attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over alleged irregularities in electoral rolls, describing Congress workers as a 'Vannar Sena' (army of monkeys) assembled to defeat Modi, whom he compared to Ravana.

Addressing party workers at Telangana Bhavan in New Delhi ahead of the INDIA bloc's 'Chalo Delhi' rally at Ramlila Maidan, Reddy alleged that votes belonging to poor people were being deleted and accused the government of attempting to manipulate electoral rolls to retain power.

Our army of monkeys has arrived to defeat Modi, the Ravana. We will wage a battle against vote theft at Ramlila Maidan. As many as 13.5 crore votes have already been deleted. Another 20 crore votes will be deleted in the coming days, he said, alleging that efforts were being made to bring Modi back to power.

Reddy also claimed that supporters had reached Delhi in large numbers despite disruptions to train services. He said the opposition would raise the issue of alleged voter deletions during the rally.

The protest, organised by the INDIA bloc, is directed against alleged irregularities in electoral rolls and the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. Opposition parties have accused the Election Commission of deleting legitimate voters' names and demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

Telangana government advisor and senior Congress leader V. Hanumantha Rao also criticised the SIR exercise, alleging that it had adversely affected voters, particularly those from disadvantaged communities. He said access to welfare benefits, employment, education and development was closely linked to citizens' voting rights.

The march began from the Minto Road-Connaught Place junction towards Ramlila Maidan, with thousands of supporters participating. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav were among the opposition leaders attending the rally.

Before the march, Rahul Gandhi alleged that shops in Connaught Place had been forcibly closed, causing losses to traders. He made the allegation in a video posted on X.

The rally follows an opposition protest programme targeting Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on October 31. The INDIA bloc has maintained that the SIR exercise has resulted in the deletion of legitimate voters' names, particularly those belonging to marginalised communities. These allegations have been disputed and remain a matter of political contention.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Indrani Sarkar