'Save Democracy': opposition marches on Election Commission, demands poll chief's resignation

New Delhi, Oct 6: Dozens of opposition lawmakers marched through the heart of the Indian capital on Tuesday, carrying a giant "Save Democracy" banner from Parliament to the Election Commission of India headquarters and demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The marchers, joined by members of the youth-led "cockroach" movement, allege that a nationwide revision of voter lists has struck millions of eligible voters off the electoral rolls in a process that benefits Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party. The controversy deepened after the Indian Express reported divisions inside the poll body last month over the lists and voter registration procedures, stoking concern about the commission's neutrality. "The election commission is a puppet in the hands of the government. We are fighting to save our democracy," Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge told reporters as the march began. Lawmakers raised slogans against Modi and demanded Kumar's resignation. Kumar, who was appointed by Modi's government, has not commented on the issue, and both the commission and the BJP have denied the accusations. Hundreds of security personnel, including paramilitaries in fatigues, fanned out across central Delhi. Barricades were thrown up around the Election Commission office, several routes were closed, and television showed baton-holding personnel outside the barricaded building. Authorities advised against travel around the protest areas. The protest is the latest in almost daily demonstrations by student organisations, political parties and the cockroach movement that began last week, and it marks a fresh political challenge to Modi midway into his third term, just months after student protests over exam paper leaks forced the resignation of his education minister. On Monday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear legal arguments seeking its intervention in the accusations against the poll body's voter drive and the conduct of its chief. "If there are decisions against the law, we will take care of it," the court said, after petitioners alleged bias by the poll body. The commission had on Friday directed its officials to register eligible voters inadvertently omitted from the rolls. Rim Jhim Sharma, a Delhi resident who joined the protest, told Reuters before being detained that many in her locality had been stripped of voting rights. "We are here for protest and this is our right. We will take our India back from Modi," she said. The question now hanging over the world's largest democracy is blunt: when the referee is accused of wearing one team's colours, who guards the game?