India protests: Opposition demands election chief’s resignation over voter list claims

Up to a million people are expected to gather in New Delhi for a major protest called by opposition leader Rahul Gandhi. They're demanding the resignation of the country's election chief over allegations of voter list corruption. The opposition says more than 130 million names are removed from electoral rolls. The Electoral Commission denies favouring the ruling BJP party. Ishan Garg reports from New Delhi. We have seen mobilization not only from the party cadre of the Indian National Congress, which is the main opposition party at the federal level, but also the wider coalition of the opposition parties at the federal level. Many of them sending their cadre from their state units. Also multiple student organizations expected to join this protest. Many of them already have thrown their weight behind this protest in the lead up to it. Now, opposition parties, of course, say that they are expecting a million people. However, the officials in the Delhi police at least have... Hinted at the possibility that permissions have only been granted for about 40,000 to 50,000 people. From the opposition party's perspective, this show of strength is a sign, they say, that this is how many people are opposed to the idea of these alleged irregularities in the voter roll revision. And if you look at the pictures from the protest site itself, many people, they're heading in, dressed in all white. And the opposition party say that is a metaphor for... The quote-unquote dead, deleted voters from these voter lists. Now, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, they have already branded these protests as anarchist. They say that the opposition parties are misguiding the country's youth. But the opposition party's key demand remains that India's Election Commission chief, Mr. Gyanesh Kumar, he should resign. Experts also say that the political challenge being mounted by opposition leaders, this is something that BJP has tackled well in the past. Of course, they have won multiple elections where they've trounced over the opposition parties. But where the youth becomes involved, that is a bit of an uncharted territory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who's well into his 12th year as the Prime Minister. Overall, the opposition parties through these protests, they are hoping to drum up support for their cause because experts also point out that the score issue of Or the perception rather of people being denied their vote. That is something that Indian voters hold very close to their heart