Two air-conditioned buses were kept as backup. On October 12, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi led thousands of marchers from atop a modified truck as they flooded central Delhi for hours to protest alleged irregularities in the Election Commission of India (ECI)’s functioning and the electoral roll special intensive revision (SIR).
Around three weeks later, Congress-led Opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) leaders opted for open-top overlanders from Rajasthan, used in jungle safaris, as they renewed demands for Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar’s removal. The overlanders were more than a mode of transport. The overlanders brought together leaders from the INDIA bloc for the march and a rally at Ramlila Maidan, one of the three newly designated protest sites in the Capital, against alleged electoral irregularities. The other two started from Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence, where several top leaders had assembled. The Opposition march and rally were the largest show of INDIA bloc strength. Among those who joined the procession were Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Trinamool Congress leaders Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader M A Baby, Communist Party of India general secretary D Raja, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah and Peoples Democratic Party’s Mehbooba Mufti. The march snaked through central Delhi for over an hour before a rally. Rahul Gandhi attacked the government, saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah will not be allowed to escape the law. He called Kumar’s removal the first step to bring the country back on track.
One of the overlanders joined the march at Minto Road, around 1.3 kilometers from Ramlila Maidan. The bloc has been pushing for Kumar’s removal, demanding accountability for the removal of 130 million names from electoral rolls, many of them under absent, shifted, or dead categories, as part of SIR.
People aware of the matter said they symbolised Opposition unity.
Election officials allegedly found their access to the ECI software curtailed by the central IT team. The protests were sparked after an Indian Express investigation found Election Commissioners SS Sandhu and Vivek Joshi recorded written dissents and objections at least 14 times between November 2025 and August 2026 and even wrote to the cabinet secretary.
ECI said differing views and observations were a normal part of deliberation and that all its digital platforms operated under strict data security protocols.
