New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday demanded the impeachment and trial of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over alleged electoral irregularities, while the BJP dismissed the INDIA bloc’s symbolic proceedings as a political exercise.
Speaking at the Opposition’s “public impeachment” programme in New Delhi, Gandhi said the INDIA bloc would not allow Kumar to escape accountability.
#WATCH | Delhi: At the INDIA bloc’s symbolic public impeachment program against CEC Gyanesh Kumar, Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi says, "We are not going to let you escape. I also want to address the people who have carried out this assault on the Union of India. Gyanesh Kumar is just one element; there are many others. We know who they are, and we understand deeply who they are. This is a warning to you: things are shifting. Please hear this warning and realise that this is a new political weapon sitting in the garden, and this weapon is going to hurt you very badly if you continue down your path. I am saying this with love and affection; we are not nasty or evil people, but we will protect the Constitution and the voice of our people… I fully support the motion that Mr Gyanesh Kumar should not only be impeached but should also be tried in a court of law for treason so that justice can be served."
(Video Source: AICC)
— ANI (@ANI) October 31, 2026
He described the exercise as a “political weapon” aimed at the CEC, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others whom he accused of undermining democracy.
Gandhi claimed that around 13.1 crore voters, or nearly 15 per cent of the electorate, had been removed from electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
He questioned how these voters could be declared ineligible after being allowed to vote in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
He said around 250 MPs had gathered at the Leader of the Opposition’s residence because institutional avenues were unavailable to them. Gandhi also announced that the Opposition would take its campaign to Delhi’s streets on Sunday.
BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi mocked the proceedings, calling them a “mock Parliament” organised to provide Rahul Gandhi with the illusion of being in a Parliament of his choice.
#WATCH | Delhi: BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi says, "After being successively unsuccessful in creating anarchy in India, the Congress party, just in order to give solace to the sentiment of their maverick prince, Rahul Gandhi, is now creating a hallucination that he is there in the Parliament of his own choice by creating a mock parliament. But to the discomfort of the Congress party, this concept of a mock parliament is now getting mocked from across the border when the World Bank has given a report for 2025 in which they have praised India for taking out 27.6% of people out of extreme poverty from 2012 onwards till 2023, and they said now the people that now the people under extreme poverty are just 2.6%. They also said that, as per today’s benchmark, the population which was earning less than 4.2 dollars was 57.7% in 2011; now they are just 16%. In Indian rupees, there is only 16% of the population which is earning less than 400 rupees a day. So 84% of Indians are earning more than 400 rupees per day. This shows how India is marching ahead under the stewardship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi… it’s very clear that BJP and NDA, under the able leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is effectively eradicating poverty, removing poverty on the other hand. Congress, out of utter frustration under the leadership of their leader, Rahul Gandhi, who is consistently inconsistent in his every approach and word, is trying to remove Prime Minister Modi, and still they are being rejected by the people of the country…"
— ANI (@ANI) October 31, 2026
Trivedi accused the Congress of acting out of political frustration and said the BJP-led NDA was focused on poverty reduction and development.
He also cited World Bank estimates on declining poverty levels to defend the government’s record.
The INDIA bloc has alleged electoral irregularities and called for action against the CEC, while the BJP has rejected the Opposition’s criticism.
