INDIA bloc postpones Gyanesh Kumar protest to October 31

The INDIA bloc has postponed its planned public impeachment event against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar until October 31 after Rahul Gandhi said rain made it uncomfortable for senior leaders to gather outdoors. The event had been scheduled for October 30 at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s official residence in New Delhi. Gandhi said the postponement was agreed by consensus and that the programme would take place at the same venue. He gave a start time of 2 p.m. A separate account of remarks by Samajwadi Party MP Dharmendra Yadav put the time at around 3 p.m.; the bloc had not clarified the difference in the accounts. The planned event is a symbolic protest concerning alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. Opposition parties have called for Kumar’s resignation over the revision. The term “public impeachment” describes the bloc’s planned proceedings; the reports do not describe it as a formal constitutional impeachment process. According to unnamed sources cited in one report, former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar is expected to chair the proceedings, Kharge will move the motion and Gandhi will deliver closing remarks. The...