Among the thousands listening to him was Reena Mahto, a member of the Congress’ student wing, who said four people from her family had been deleted from the voter list due to a false record that they had moved elsewhere.
She told Reuters the family had long lived in Jagdalpur in the central state of Chhattisgarh, but “now all of a sudden we have been marked as shifted from our own house”, adding: “There should be accountability, and we are here to seek that.”
The change to voter rolls removed more than 130 million names – more than the population of Japan.
Opposition parties allege the deletions disproportionately affected Muslim voters and members of other minorities, who are unlikely to support the BJP.
The Election Commission says the aim of the voter revision is to update voter lists to remove duplicate and ineligible voters. It has denied favouring any party and said wrongly deleted voters can re-enrol.
The BJP has accused rivals of trying to undermine democracy by questioning legitimate electoral processes.
Dinesh Singh said he was joining the protest for the sake of his children’s future.
“I am not affiliated with any political party,” he said. “I am here for a cause. I want the children to remember that we fought for their future.”
“CONSPIRACY FOR ‘ANARCHY’,” MINISTER SAYS
Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda, however, called the protest a “carefully orchestrated drama”.
“What is unfolding today at Ramlila Maidan is not an act of respect for democracy. It is a calculated conspiracy to plunge the nation into anarchy, all in the name of democracy,” he told news agency ANI.
The demonstration is the latest in a series of near-daily protests that opposition parties, student organisations and the youth-led Cockroach Janta Party have held since late September demanding the resignation of the election chief.
The protests erupted after the Indian Express newspaper reported that Kumar’s two deputies had raised several concerns internally about voter list revisions, registration procedures and digital systems.