NEW DELHI: The Indian Youth Congress has suspended more than 200 office-bearers across seven states for failing to participate in the INDIA bloc’s rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan on November 1.The disciplinary action comes days after several opposition leaders, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, attended the rally, where they accused the BJP and the Election Commission of undermining democratic institutions through alleged “vote chori”.The rally, which also saw opposition parties protest against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, was attended by senior leaders of the INDIA bloc, who demanded Kumar’s removal and vowed to continue their campaign against him.Addressing the gathering, Rahul Gandhi alleged that the CEC had helped the BJP manipulate elections and warned that legal action would follow. “Gyanesh Kumar will be removed from the post of Chief Election Commissioner. Gyanesh Kumar will go to jail,” he said.
He also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah, saying, “After Gyanesh Kumar, we are going to stand right in front of you. Legal action will be taken against them.”Kharge accused the BJP-led governments at the Centre and in several states of coming to power through a “stolen” mandate, while Banerjee alleged that West Bengal was being targeted through the SIR exercise.Other opposition leaders, including Akhilesh Yadav and RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, also criticised the BJP, with the former describing Ramlila Maidan as the “Haldighati of democracy”.