‘Votes stolen at the highest level’: Rahul Gandhi sharpens attack on Gyanesh Kumar, attends Jan Sunwai

• Rahul Gandhi attends Jan Sunwai in Trilokpuri alleging illegal removal of 416 voters from four booths in Trilokpuri during the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls

• The LoP reiterates that opposition will continue to protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar until he resigns or PM Narendra Modi removes him

• Gandhi says ECI is evading accountability, sidelining the poor by depriving them of their electoral rights and accuses Modi government of trying to build a “new India” favouring billionaires

 As protests against 'vote chori' gather momentum across the country, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday, 27 October, stepped up his attack on Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, alleging that “votes were stolen from the highest level”.

At a 'Jan Sunwai' (public hearing) in Trilokpuri, east Delhi, the Congress leader also heard grievances by residents on the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral polls.

Addressing the gathering, Gandhi accused the CEC of evading questions raised by the Opposition and reiterated the demand for his resignation.

“We have raised questions with Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, but he refuses to answer. We will not stop. The Opposition will continue its fight until Gyanesh Kumar resigns or Prime Minister Narendra Modi removes him,” he said.

Saying that crores of people across the country were being deprived of their right to vote, Gandhi alleged that poor people were being systematically removed from electoral rolls.

“Crores of people across India are being deprived of their right to vote. Poor people are being removed from the electoral rolls, and their rights are being snatched. Why is this happening? An attempt is being made to create a new India belonging to a select group of billionaires, where citizens have no rights and the poor are denied their rights, leaving a country that serves only the interests of billionaires,” he said.

The public hearing focused on irregularities in electoral rolls, including the deletion of 416 names across four specific polling booths in the area.

The allegations come amid controversy over the SIR in Delhi. According to the ECI, 47.56 lakh names were deleted from the draft electoral rolls published on August 31, 2026—nearly 33% of the city’s electorate.

The deletions were primarily categorised under ASDD—Absent, Shifted, Deceased and Duplicate. Residents marked as permanently shifted accounted for the largest share, with around 43.3 lakh names falling under this category.

Located near the Delhi-Ghaziabad border, Trilokpuri is a densely populated, low-income neighbourhood with a substantial Scheduled Caste population, estimated at 31.72%, followed by a significant Muslim population.

Today's Jan Sunwai was organised by civil society groups and attended by lawyer Prashant Bhushan, political activist Yogendra Yadav and Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, among others.

The hearing comes ahead of a fresh round of protests announced by the opposition INDIA bloc against the deletion of voters’ names and irregularities in the electoral process.

The Opposition plans to hold a “public impeachment” of CEC Gyanesh Kumar in Delhi on 30 October to be followed by a Dilli Chalo march against alleged vote chori, culminating at Ramlila Maidan on 1 November. The organisers expect a turnout of up to one million people.

Notably, the Delhi Police has denied permission for the INDIA bloc's proposed "public impeachment" event at Hotel Ashok in new Delhi.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has reached out to INDIA bloc constituents to ensure their participation in both events.

The protests are part of the Opposition’s broader campaign against the SIR. The bloc aims to project a united front in defence of democratic rights and press for Kumar’s resignation over the alleged deletion of lakhs of voters’ names.