New Delhi: Rain in the capital did what the government has not managed in weeks. It pushed the Opposition's calendar back by a day.
The INDIA bloc's "public impeachment" of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, listed for 3.30 pm on Friday at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's residence at 10, Rajaji Marg, will now be held on Saturday, October 31. Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi announced the change at a joint press conference outside Kharge's house, with leaders of the Congress, Samajwadi Party, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Trinamool Congress and CPI(M) beside him.
"By consensus we have decided to postpone today's programme to tomorrow because of rain. We felt that it would be uncomfortable for seniors to sit in the rain, and we would do the exact same programme tomorrow," Gandhi said.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh put the new start at 2.30 pm in a post on X. Samajwadi Party's Dharmendra Yadav, speaking after Gandhi, said it would begin around 3 pm.
The script is unchanged. Former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar will chair the proceedings. Kharge will move the "motion" to impeach Gyanesh Kumar, and Gandhi will make the closing remarks before it is "passed". The bloc calls the exercise a symbolic protest against what it describes as "vote chori" and the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
The venue carries its own message. The programme was shifted to Kharge's residence after attempts to book the Ashok Hotel, the Constitution Club, Talkatora Stadium and Ramlila Maidan ran into permission hurdles, according to people involved in the arrangements.
The bigger mobilisation is untouched. The Chalo Dilli march and the rally at Ramlila Maidan will go ahead on Sunday, November 1, and Gandhi invited civil society groups, students, workers and journalists to join. He accused Union Home Minister Amit Shah of "trying his best" to stop people travelling to Delhi from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Telangana and Punjab.
"Now you watch what happens at Ramlila ground," Gandhi said. "There is huge anger and emotional pain because large numbers are being disenfranchised."
Ramesh wrote that "the countdown to the exit of Gyanesh Kumar" was "accelerating". The bloc has demanded the CEC's resignation over alleged irregularities in the rolls after the SIR.
Friday's press conference turned out to be the only part of the day's programme that ran to schedule. A stage stood ready on the lawn behind the leaders, unused.
The "public impeachment" is now listed for 2.30 pm on Saturday, less than 24 hours before the march it was meant to build up to.