Gandhi Petitions SC to Remove India's Election Chief — SkimNews
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- Rahul Gandhi led a "March for Democracy" to India's Supreme Court and filed a petition challenging an electoral roll revision that has struck tens of millions of names off voter lists, alleging fraud by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
- Chief Justice Surya Kant declined to comment on the petition because the matter is already sub judice, but told Gandhi and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge it would be heard "at the earliest possible opportunity."
- Indian police had denied protest requests for weeks citing law and order, and over the weekend detained thousands of demonstrators, shut dozens of metro stations, and deployed tens of thousands of security personnel across central Delhi.
- India's Home Ministry announced that demonstrations will no longer be permitted at Jantar Mantar — Delhi's best-known protest site — listing three alternative sites where permission could be sought.
- Reporters Without Borders condemned the detention of at least 16 Indian journalists covering the protests, and BBC footage captured a policeman slapping a detained protester inside a bus; the Delhi police did not respond to questions about use of force.
- BJP President Nitin Nabin accused opposition parties and the Cockroach Janta Party pressure group of trying to destabilize India "at the behest of foreign forces" without naming any, while the Election Commission and BJP reject allegations that the revision benefits Modi's party.
Why it matters: With tens of millions of voters removed from electoral rolls and the Chief Justice promising an early Supreme Court hearing, the dispute over India's voter list is now a constitutional showdown. The Home Ministry's permanent ban on protests at Jantar Mantar and the detention of at least 16 journalists signal the government's intent to control the physical space of dissent, not just respond to one rally.
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