Thousands march in Delhi demanding the election chief's resignation over a voter roll revision that removed 130 million names

The number at the center of the Indian argument is difficult to take in. The Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision of the rolls removed over 130 million names from the draft lists. The opposition says the revision benefits Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party and falls hardest on Muslim voters and other minorities. The commission says it favours no party and that anyone wrongly deleted can re enrol. Both of those statements were being marched behind in Delhi on Sunday.

Hundreds of security personnel with batons and shields, backed by riot control vehicles, surrounded the Ramlila Maidan ground in central Delhi as the march set out from the Minto Road and Connaught Place area, led by Gandhi and joined by leaders from across the INDIA alliance, among them Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Trinamool Congress leaders Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee. The opposition had predicted hundreds of thousands would take part. Reuters reported thousands on the street on Sunday, in a ground that holds tens of thousands.

The campaign has been building since late September. Opposition parties, student organisations and a youth led party have held near daily demonstrations since the Indian Express reported that Kumar's two deputies had raised concerns internally about the voter list revisions, registration procedures and digital systems. On Saturday, opposition members of parliament and civil society figures held what they called a public impeachment of Kumar at the residence of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, passing a resolution that accused him of deleting votes to steal elections and demanded he be tried for treason. The proceeding had no legal force. Removing a chief election commissioner requires a formal parliamentary process.

Congress member Shashi Tharoor told reporters at the rally that people have lost faith in Kumar and that he should quit. The alliance says it will take what it calls its evidence to President Droupadi Murmu and continue the protests in the states. Kumar has not resigned, the commission has not changed its position, and the revised rolls are the rolls the next Indian elections will be run on unless a court or the commission itself moves.