A massive INDIA Alliance rally was held at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan on November 1 under the banner of “Vote Bachao – Desh Bachao”, bringing together opposition parties, Left organisations and thousands of people in a united show of resistance against vote chori (vote-theft), electoral manipulation and the BJP-RSS attack on democracy.
The rally followed weeks of protests across the country against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and the large-scale deletion of voters’ names. The mobilisation brought together prominent INDIA Alliance leaders, along with students-youth leaders and members of the civil society.
Hundreds of CPI(ML) Liberation comrades, along with AISA and AICCTU activists, marched from Zakir Hussain College to join the rally at Ramlila Maidan.
Addressing the massive gathering, Comrade Dipankar Bhattacharya described SIR as a “surgical strike on people's voting rights”, aimed at snatching away the right to vote from ordinary citizens. He said that the entire country had understood that SIR was being used as a tool to disenfranchise people. He emphasised that the right to vote and the right to protest were fundamental democratic rights, both of which were under attack.
Comrade Dipankar pointed out that when the movement against SIR began, protesters were not even allowed to assemble at Jantar Mantar, the designated protest site in the national capital. Delhi, he said, appeared to be under military rule, with attempts being made to silence people's voices. He described the Ramlila Maidan gathering as a historic moment in the continuing struggle to defend democracy.
Recalling Dr B.R. Ambedkar's contribution in securing universal adult franchise, Comrade Dipankar declared that the people would not surrender their right to vote. He called upon the youth, including the Gen-Z generation, to join the movement and take the fight against vote chori to every village and locality, particularly in the run-up to the forthcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand.
AISA National President Comrade Neha Bora raised the fundamental question of citizenship and equal democratic rights. They said that every individual in India enjoys equal status and that the symbol of this equality is one vote. Taking away that vote, they said, turns people into second-class citizens in their own country and declares them outsiders. Demanding scrapping of SIR and removal of Gyanesh Kumar, they condemned the use of arrests, police violence and repression against people protesting discriminatory policies by the regime to protect the vote-chor CEC.
The speakers called for the movement against SIR to be carried forward across the country and placed three clear demands: the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar, the repeal of the 2023 law governing the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners, and the restoration of every voter's name deleted from the electoral rolls.
The rally sent out a strong message of opposition unity and popular resistance against the BJP-RSS regime's assault on democracy.
