Opposition Petitions The President As Delhi Locks Down For Saturday

A delegation of Indian opposition leaders met President Droupadi Murmu on Friday to demand the resignation of the country's chief election commissioner

Image Source: @INCIndia on X

The memorandum set out four demands: that CEC Kumar resign and that a 2023 law granting the chief election commissioner and election commissioners lifelong immunity be repealed; that the ongoing revision of electoral rolls be suspended immediately and all 133 million deleted voters restored; that India return to paper ballots in all elections; and that assembly elections held in the past two years "in which conclusive evidence of vote chori has been presented" be repealed. Vote chori means vote theft.

The President has no power to remove a chief election commissioner at her own discretion. Under the constitution the post can be vacated only through the procedure used to remove a Supreme Court judge, which requires a parliamentary majority the opposition does not have.

सबसे पहले हिंदुस्तान के सारे विपक्षी सांसद चीफ इलेक्शन कमिश्नर से मिलने गए। वहां पर हमें डिटेन किया गया, पीटा गया और धकेला गया। फिर बसों में बंद कर पुलिस स्टेशन ले जाया गया। उन्होंने हमसे कहा कि आप यहां Protest नहीं कर सकते। इसके बाद हम जंतर मंतर, जो Protest साइट है - वहां गए तो हमें रोका गया। अब हम राष्ट्रपति जी के पास आए हैं। सोमवार को हम CJI को मेमोरेंडम देने सुप्रीम कोर्ट जाएंगे। : नेता विपक्ष श्री @RahulGandhi 📍 दिल्ली

— Congress (@INCIndia) October 9, 2026

Around 150 MPs and leaders of the INDIA bloc met in the Central Hall of Parliament before the march, where 16 leaders from 16 parties signed the memorandum. The group then walked towards Rashtrapati Bhavan and was stopped by police barricades at Vijay Chowk. Ten leaders went in. The rest sat down on Kartavya Path holding placards and chanting allegations of collusion between the election commission and the government.

The capital faces a second confrontation on Saturday. The Cockroach Janta Party, a youth movement that forced the resignation of the education minister earlier over examination paper leaks, has called a protest at Jantar Mantar in central Delhi. 

Permission has been refused. The government has deployed thousands of police and ordered internet access cut within a four-kilometre radius of the site for 24 hours from 10pm on Friday, an area that takes in Parliament, the central government district and the main commercial centre of New Delhi. Several metro stations are to be shut and some train services are reported cancelled.

VIDEO | Delhi Metro shuts entry, exit at 45 stations till 6 pm on Saturday over security concerns in view of protest. Visuals from Jor Bagh Metro Station. (Full video available on PTI Videos - https://t.co/d8jp61yd2p) https://t.co/Vpo9rmrBmO

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) October 9, 2026

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the closures showed a government acting out of fear. He said Kumar's conduct had created a climate of fear and endangered democracy. Rahul Gandhi is due in Chennai on Saturday for a student outreach programme.