After protest hat-trick, INDIA bloc to meet President, seek poll chief’s exit | Political Pulse News
4 min readOct 9, 2026 02:47 PM IST
First published on: Oct 9, 2026 at 02:43 PM IST
After three days of back-to-back protests and a day before the Cockroach Janta Party’s Jantar Mantar plan, INDIA bloc MPs will march from Parliament to Rashtrapati Bhavan on Friday to meet President Droupadi Murmu to demand that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resign over issues linked to Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
Leaders of the Opposition in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, Mamata Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee, RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav and CPM’s MA Baby will be part of the delegation that meets the President. “We are working out who all will go. But these five names are finalised. All MPs will meet at 5 pm in Parliament. The time has changed after getting an appointment with the President,” said a source in the INDIA bloc.
Earlier, sources in the INDIA bloc had said that if they do not get an appointment with the President, they would march to Rashtrapati Bhavan and stage a demonstration there.
4 days, 4 protests
Over the past three days, the Opposition has stepped up its campaign against the Chief Election Commissioner through protests that have led to dramatic scenes in the national capital. On Tuesday, the INDIA bloc’s march to the Election Commission was blocked. But a surprise sit-in by Rahul Gandhi and his sister and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at Akashvani Bhavan added a twist.
The next day, an INDIA bloc lunch at Sagar Ratna in Janpath became a prelude to a Jantar Mantar march. Both protests ended with the detention of Opposition leaders, but caught national attention. On Thursday too, INDIA bloc leaders met for lunch at Connaught Place’s Moets and then marched to Rajghat, keeping the tempo. And now, their meeting with the President will add another headline, as a week of the Opposition’s agitation on the streets of the national capital draws to a close.
A build-up to CJP protest
The INDIA bloc’s four-day protest streak is also significant because it comes in the run-up to the Cockroach Janta Party’s protest at Jantar Mantar on Saturday. During the paper leak protests in July, the CJP and Jantar Mantar grabbed national spotlight, and the Opposition was forced to play catch-up as the agitation reached a scale few expected.
This time, Congress and its allies have staged back-to-back protests against the Election Commission in run-up to the CJP gathering. The consecutive marches have built momentum as the CJP protest approaches, and the Opposition has also scored some political points. The Congress has distanced itself from CJP activities, saying that it raised issues like paper leaks and election issues long before CJP. Tomorrow, Rahul Gandhi will be in Chennai for a ‘Chhatron ki Goonj’ gathering and Congress leaders will likely skip the Jantar Mantar protest. Other INDIA bloc members, however, may make an appearance.
The Delhi backdrop
The Opposition’s meeting with the President is on a day when Delhi is being turned into a fortress ahead of the CJP protest. Trains have been cancelled, Metro stations shut, and hotels asked not to lodge visitors who appear suspicious.
In fact, voices from the Opposition have raised concerns over Delhi Police’s plan for tomorrow.
“Super! First they shut down Delhi Metro services, now they hv cancelled Delhi-bound trains—all to stop people from reaching the capital. These people believe they can throttle legitimate protest by choking every route of entry. List out every step they’ve taken…including the internet shutdowns. These repeated, heavy handed measures are nothing short of a systematic assault on people’s civil liberties,” CPM’s John Brittas said on X. Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, also a Rajya Sabha MP, has raised the matter in the Supreme Court too.
