India: 130 million voters struck off the electoral roll. Protests in Delhi: ‘They’re stealing our votes’

A few days ago, Human Rights Watch spoke out, emphasising that the allegations against the Electoral Commission raise ‘serious questions about the fairness of future Indian elections’. According to the organisation’s Asia director, Elaine Pearson, “the authorities should immediately halt the verification process, which has deprived India’s most marginalised people of their right to vote and access to other public services”. This accusation has been rejected by both the Electoral Commission and the government it represents.

But whilst the official target of Sunday’s demonstrators was undoubtedly Gyanesh Kumar, the controversial senior bureaucrat appointed by the government to head the Election Commission, the figure most frequently mentioned in the demonstrators’ slogans was clearly Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “I’m here partly because I’m against the government’s repressive policies,” explains Vandana Sharma, a 67-year-old pensioner who had come to listen to the speeches by opposition leaders.

The protesters gathered at Ramlila Maidan, a huge open space north of central New Delhi, after the Delhi Police – which, unlike in other Indian states, reports directly to the Ministry of the Home – had last month excluded Jantar Mantar from the list of officially authorised venues for demonstrations.

The area adjacent to the historic astronomical observatory complex had long been the main gathering point for protests in the capital, but following the success of the anti-government demonstrations organised by the Cockroach Janta Party – and due to its proximity to Parliament – it has been cordoned off and effectively closed to the public.

Beyond the immediate aim of calling for the sacking of the Election Commission of India, Sunday’s rally also had undeniable political significance, bringing together on the same stage the leaders of an opposition coalition whose unity has recently been weakened by the electoral successes of Modi’s BJP, the latest of which came following the revision of the electoral roll in West Bengal, a state in which the Prime Minister’s party had never before won.

“We Indians used to be very proud of our elections,” explains the Bengali writer Nilanjana Roy, who was also among the tens of thousands of people who took to the streets. “Each and every one of us knows that the right to vote was won through struggle and bloodshed. We are here because that right is under threat today.”