Before he reached Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan for the INDIA bloc’s rally, Rahul Gandhi sought to renew his “shop a little” appeal to the people, but claimed the BJP had “forcibly shut down every shop” in Delhi’s Connaught Place. This was a day after Gandhi asked the “lakhs of people” expected in Delhi for the rally to also shop at the city’s markets, in a cheeky counter to the BJP’s and some trader organisations’ contentions that the event would disrupt business during the ongoing festive season.
The INDIA bloc marched from the Connaught Place Outer Circle road to Ramlila Maidan for its rally over alleged electoral fraud, seeking the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the scrapping of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls. He added, “We need a court order that no rally, protest or march can originate, culminate and pass through CP, as this is affecting our right to a livelihood. “This theft of votes is no ordinary theft. This is the theft of every voice of India. At Faridabad, senior BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan, who had to resign as education minister after a protest sparked by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) in July, accused Gandhi and the Congress of eroding faith in democratic institutions. “Is the Congress opposing SIR or electoral accountability?
About the Sunday rally, Atul Bhargava, president of the New Delhi Traders Association, said to NDTV, “Once again, Connaught Place is bearing the brunt of these rallies, creating an atmosphere of uncertainty and fear among customers who are reluctant to visit the market. This is called treason,” Gandhi said, speaking in Hindi. “Without Gyanesh Kumar, neither would Narendra Modi have become Prime Minister nor Amit Shah the Home Minister,” he said, calling the 2024 polls “illegal”. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, speaking before Gandhi, said the governments at the Centre and in Maharashtra, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh were “all governments of vote theft”. The BJP held a counter “Loktantra Bachao, Arajakta Hatao” (Save Democracy, End Anarchy) padayatra in Faridabad near Delhi among other places nationwide. In Goa, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said the SIR was a constitutional exercise. The party should make its position clear,” he said.
