Rahul Gandhi took to a press conference in Delhi today, branding Gyanesh Kumar a coward who "cannot sleep" amid mounting scrutiny over the voter roll cleanup. He accused the chief election commissioner of hiding behind fear, a claim that echoes the opposition’s broader narrative that the electoral process is compromised.
In a coordinated move, Gandhi urged the public to march 3 km from central Delhi’s Barakhamba Road to the Supreme Court, a symbolic stretch that underlines the protest’s reach. He highlighted that roughly 50 % of police officers reportedly endorsed the protesters’ stance, a statistic that bolsters the claim that the police machinery itself questions the commissioner’s integrity.
The core of the complaint lies in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, where alleged irregularities in data cleansing have sparked national debate. Gandhi’s party insists that the process was manipulated to favor certain political contingents, a charge that has already prompted parliamentary questions.
The Congress will file a petition with the Supreme Court later this evening, a move that could force a judicial review of the SIR methodology. If the court schedules a hearing, it may set a precedent for how electoral oversight is adjudicated in future elections.