New Delhi: The BJP's counter-offensive against the opposition's 'vote chori' campaign moves to the street on Wednesday, with 'Loktantra Bachao, Arajakta Hatao' marches and rallies in at least three states and a student show of strength at Delhi University.
Union Health Minister J P Nadda leads the Bhopal march, which starts from Atal Path and ends at Roshanpura Square. On Tuesday he addressed the same campaign's yatra in Bareilly, where he accused the Congress, the INDI Alliance and the Samajwadi Party of undermining the credibility of the Election Commission.
Nadda said the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls now under way across the country is meant to clean the rolls by removing the names of voters who have died, shifted, are absent or appear more than once.
In Uttar Pradesh, BJP national president Nitin Nabin leads a march in Gorakhpur at noon with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The route runs from Maharana Pratap Inter College to the Mata Kali temple near the Sardar Patel statue, according to a party statement. Nabin is on a two-day organisational visit to the state. After the march he meets prominent members of society at Annexe Bhawan in Taramandal, then party public representatives, and later chairs a meeting of the Uttar Pradesh BJP core committee. On Thursday morning he is scheduled to visit the Gorakhnath temple.
The visit comes as the party steps up organisational work in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the 2027 assembly elections.
In Delhi, Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and Minister of State Harsh Malhotra are to join a march in East Delhi.
The ABVP said more than 15,000 students will march from the university's Rugby Ground to Kranti Chowk under the same 'Remove Anarchy, Save Democracy' banner. The organisation called it "a united march of student power against anarchic and anti-national forces that are attempting to destabilise the country by promoting disorder through various ongoing movements".
The marches answer a Ramlila Maidan rally on Sunday where INDIA bloc leaders demanded the BJP's removal over the 'vote chori' charge. Rahul Gandhi told that gathering that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar would be removed and jailed for "treason" in future, and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah would not escape the law.
Both sides now have their calendars full. The SIR exercise, and the streets it is filling, will be the test.