INDIA Bloc Postpones Public Impeachment of Election Chief Gyanesh Kumar to October 31 as Rain Hits Delhi

The INDIA bloc postponed its planned symbolic public impeachment programme against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to Saturday, October 31, because of rain in New Delhi. The programme will be held at the same time, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi told reporters on Friday, October 30.

The programme was originally scheduled for Friday at 3.30 pm at 10, Rajaji Marg in New Delhi. That address is the official residence of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. Mirror Now reported the postponement on Friday after Gandhi confirmed the change in a brief interaction with the media.

Gandhi cites rain and senior leaders

"By consensus, we have decided to postpone today's program (public impeachment programme against CEC) to tomorrow at the same time because of rain. We felt that it would be uncomfortable for seniors to sit in the rain, and we will hold the exact same program tomorrow," Gandhi said, in remarks carried by ANI.

Gandhi made the same point in a second brief remark reported from the press interaction. "It is not a good idea for everyone to sit out in the rain, so we will do it tomorrow. We will hold a march at Ramlila Maidan on the 1st," he said.

The explanation was narrow. The bloc did not cancel the programme, change its venue, or change what it plans to do. It moved the same programme by one day, from Friday afternoon to Saturday at the same time, and gave the weather as the reason.

What the programme was set to do

Former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar is expected to preside over the proceedings. Kharge was scheduled to move the symbolic impeachment motion, and Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, was designated to deliver the concluding address.

Preparations for the Friday programme had been completed and opposition MPs had been invited, NDTV 24x7 reported. The opposition is expected to present a charge sheet against the Chief Election Commissioner at the rescheduled event, which will be held at the same venue.

Plan set at a Thursday meeting

The programme was finalised at an INDIA bloc preparatory meeting on Thursday, October 29. Senior Congress leaders Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Jairam Ramesh and K. C. Venugopal attended the meeting, besides Meira Kumar, Power Corridors reported.

That meeting set the Friday timing, the venue at Kharge's residence, the presiding role for Meira Kumar, and the order in which Kharge and Gandhi were to speak. The postponement announced on Friday left that plan in place and changed only the day.

A symbolic proceeding, a day before the rally

The symbolic proceedings have no constitutional authority to remove the Chief Election Commissioner. The gathering is part of the INDIA bloc campaign against Kumar over alleged electoral irregularities and the Special Intensive Revision, known as SIR, of electoral rolls. The opposition claims are allegations, not established findings.

PTI, citing sources, said the public impeachment was likely to take place on Saturday, October 31. That puts it a day before the bloc's planned rally at Ramlila Maidan against Kumar and the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.

The rescheduled Saturday event will therefore come first, at the Rajaji Marg venue, and the larger opposition mobilisation at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan will follow on November 1. Gandhi linked the two dates in his own remarks, confirming the Saturday programme and the November 1 march in the same interaction.