NEW DELHI, October 31 (Aalimi Nation) – Preparations are in their final stage for the INDIA bloc rally at Ramlila Maidan on Sunday, November 1, where the Congress-led opposition plans to press its charge of "vote chori" over the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The Ramlila Maidan rally is scheduled from 10 am to 5 pm. The opposition is demanding that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resign and that the SIR be halted. The BJP calls the opposition's claims false and says the revision of the rolls is a legitimate exercise.
Delhi Police are deploying about 3,500 personnel, with more than 200 CCTV cameras, body-worn cameras and surveillance vehicles. The ground has been divided into 14 zones, each under a senior officer, and 10 companies of reserve forces have been called in.
Organisers have been asked to submit details of invitees, volunteers and the buses bringing participants, and overnight stays are prohibited. Police have also warned against unruly conduct and speeches that could disturb communal harmony.
Estimates of attendance differ widely. Congress says around 10 lakh people could attend, while Delhi Police expect about 50,000.
Congress leaders Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, K C Venugopal and Pawan Khera inspected the venue on Thursday evening. Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has appealed to students and civil society groups to join what he called a struggle to protect the Constitution. Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has extended support to the protest.
Two Delhi trade bodies, the Federation of Sadar Bazar Trades Association and the Kirana Committee Delhi, wrote to Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Mamata Banerjee asking them to raise the matter with the Congress leadership. They want the rally deferred until after Diwali, which falls on November 8.
The traders said about Rs 25,000 crore of business is transacted in Delhi in the run-up to Diwali and that earlier protests and traffic curbs had already cost about Rs 3,000 crore. They estimated that another large gathering could cost up to Rs 10,000 crore. "Political programmes can be rescheduled, but businesses cannot afford to lose sales," they said.
Congress leaders have defended the rally, arguing that the protection of democracy and the Constitution must come first. No postponement had been announced at the time of writing.
The BJP has announced a counter-campaign titled "Save Democracy, Remove Anarchy", beginning October 31. In West Bengal, the state unit said it plans marches at 800 locations, with a Kolkata march on November 2 to be led by the party's national president, Nitin Nabin.
BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi questioned at a press conference why Congress was holding the rally on that date. Telangana BJP president N Ramchander Rao called the opposition's deletion figures misleading, saying the removals covered people categorised as absent, shifted, deceased or duplicate entries.
The opposition had earlier planned a "public impeachment" proceeding against the Chief Election Commissioner, which the BJP dismissed as drama. Whether the November 1 rally goes ahead as scheduled, and how many attend, will become clear on Sunday.
