Delhi hunkers down for Opposition's anti-CEC protest

Nearly 10,000 police and paramilitary personnel will guard central Delhi on Sunday as the Opposition INDIA bloc marches from the edge of Connaught Place to Ramlila Maidan for its largest show of strength yet against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, a march for which, senior police officers said, no permission was sought or granted.

The police say they will facilitate the march, which Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi announced on Instagram on Friday, but the two sides are preparing for very different crowds. Opposition parties claim nearly one million people will come from across the country, while the police have planned for about 50,000, the capacity of the ground, and say any overflow will be held back on the surrounding roads.

Meanwhile, opposition parties on Saturday held a symbolic "public impeachment" of Kumar at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's 10, Rajaji Marg residence in Delhi. At the event, attended by Opposition MPs and leaders, as well as activists and members of civil society, Kharge read out an INDIA bloc resolution accusing the CEC of taking part in a "devious and malevolent criminal conspiracy orchestrated by the BJP to steal national and state elections", which it called "an act of treason against the nation and the Constitution of India" for which he must be tried in a court.

The BJP, which has accused the alliance of attacking constitutional bodies after failing to win voters' confidence, said the Opposition had made a "mockery" of Parliament and democracy, and its spokesperson Sambit Patra said the bloc could have Gandhi as a "mock Prime Minister for life".

The "Chalo Dilli" rally, called over alleged irregularities in the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, will be the first time in a month of agitation that the Opposition assembles in numbers at a notified venue. Through October, the authorities answered the protests with Metro closures, internet shutdowns, prohibitory orders and 40,000 security personnel. Jantar Mantar lost its status as a protest site, and leaders of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) who climbed its locked gates were sent to Tihar.

The march is due to set off at noon from near Minto Road Bridge and move along Jawaharlal Nehru Marg and Chaman Lal Marg to the ground. The starting point is in the Connaught Place area, where the police told the Delhi high court this month that they would take "all possible measures under the law" against a CJP call to gather.

"The organisers have not approached us seeking permission for the march. However, we are trying to facilitate it as smoothly as possible," said Rohit Rajbir Singh, deputy commissioner of police (central), adding that the police were coordinating with the organisers on the route.

Beyond Sunday, Opposition leaders plan to take what they describe as evidence of vote theft to President Droupadi Murmu and carry the agitation into the states.

Of the nearly 10,000 personnel to be deployed along the route and around the venue, about 3,000 are from the Delhi Police and 7,000 from paramilitary forces. Another 10 companies have been held in reserve, to be added to the cordon as required. Every road to Ramlila Maidan will be barricaded and manned to stop marchers from heading towards Jantar Mantar or other restricted zones, and one gate of the ground has been set aside for the emergency evacuation of senior leaders, among them Gandhi.

The 270 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) brought into the Capital this month for the protests will stay until November 16, after their deployment was extended for a third time. Police commissioner Anurag Kumar inspected the arrangements at Minto Road and Ramlila Maidan on Saturday.

The ground has been divided into eight regions, each under a DCP or additional DCP, and 14 zones, each under an assistant commissioner of police assisted by at least 25 inspectors and personnel from sub-inspector to constable rank. Nearly 250 high-definition, AI-enabled CCTV cameras will feed a police control room at the venue, backed by drones, body-worn cameras and anti-riot measures.

"If the numbers increase beyond the capacity, the crowd spillover will be contained on roads adjoining the venue, and accordingly traffic restrictions would be imposed," Singh said.

The rally has been permitted between 10am and 5pm, on condition that organisers share details of invitees, volunteers and buses, and keep speeches clear of anything that could disturb communal harmony. Traffic will be diverted at 10 points during those hours, and movement on at least 11 stretches is likely to be affected, among them Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, Jawaharlal Nehru Marg, Aruna Asaf Ali Road, Minto Road, DBG Road and Barakhamba Road, said K Ramesh, deputy commissioner of police (central range traffic). DTC buses will run on restricted routes, a corridor will be kept open for ambulances to LNJP and GB Pant hospitals, and commuters have been urged to take the Metro.

Sunday's rally follows a month in which the Opposition's attempts to take its protest into central Delhi were repeatedly blocked. Jantar Mantar, long the country's best-known site for dissent, was de-notified on October 12, and Ramlila Maidan, Burari Ground and CBD Ground were named in its place. CJP leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, who entered the site the next day, spent more than a week in custody and were freed on October 21 only after undertaking in writing not to call protests there.

The INDIA bloc says it was refused the lawns of the Ashoka Hotel for the impeachment event and then barred from setting up at Ramlila Maidan, before moving it to Kharge's residence at 10 Rajaji Marg, where rain pushed it back by a day. Former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar presided, with Samajwadi Party MP Awadhesh Prasad and Trinamool Congress MP Saugata Roy as vice-chairs. Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the SP's Dharmendra Yadav and the TMC's Derek O'Brien were among those present.

Gandhi has urged students, farmers, workers and traders to join the march, telling them there was no need to worry about the police and lathis. Congress leader Pawan Khera has alleged that trains were cancelled in Telangana and buses carrying party workers stopped, a claim Patra dismissed on Friday as "fabricating stories" to cover for poor arrangements.

Union home minister Amit Shah, who on Friday offered to convene a special session of Parliament on the vote-theft allegations, said Gandhi wanted "drama on the streets". Traders near the ground, facing the loss of business on the last Sunday before Diwali, have voiced concern, and the Confederation of All India Traders has started a petition against the frequency of rallies in central Delhi.