Escalating their campaign seeking removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and scrapping of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, Opposition parties led by Congress drew thousands to Delhi streets Monday and marched to the Supreme Court.
The optics were deliberate. After July and October street protests, first by Opposition and then by CJP, the "Chalo Delhi" protest called by Congress witnessed a major show of Opposition unity, with almost entire top leadership of INDIA bloc taking part - from Gandhi and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to SP's Akhilesh Yadav, TMC's Mamata Banerjee, RJD's Tejashwi Yadav and CPM's M A Baby.
Earlier addressing a press conference, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said that "all protests against Kumar are part of just one protest" “There is no parallel protests, there is one protest... We do not care who you are, which formation you come from... If you are protecting the Constitution, we are with you.”
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The joint petition filed at apex court raises issues highlighted in his letter to CJI Surya Kant - arbitrary arrest of several students, closure of metro stations and cancellation of trains.
Significantly, in letter to Rahul & Kharge, CJI flags separation of powers, ethics and judicial propriety, saying convening meeting to discuss pending cases would wholly contravene principle of separation of powers, an intrinsic facet of basic structure doctrine.
CJI also reiterated commitment to preserve and protect Fundamental Rights of every citizen of India. “We are entitled to seek enforcement of such rights at all hours through procedure known in law.”
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The petition notes Gandhi asked CEC to "turn approver" and reign as Opposition's fight was against "bigger powers" that were behind him. "Resign, turn approver, you but you are not the mind behind the mistake... We know Gyanesh Kumar's is unable to sleep at night: I am telling him directly 'you will not survive as CEC'" Gandhi said.
Politically, Congress seeks to convert SIR - a technical electoral roll exercise - into a constitutional morality battle. For BJP, it is pure theatrics. The Supreme Court hearing will decide whether SIR and detention politics become a legal test of electoral integrity.
Tags: #OppositionMarch #RahulGandhi #SupremeCourt #SIR #GyaneshKumar #CJI #INDIAbloc #JantarMantar #ElectoralRolls