The Delhi Police on Saturday (October 17, 2026) granted a no-objection certificate (NOC) to the Congress for its rally at Ramlila Maidan on November 1 as part of the party’s nationwide campaign against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).

DCP (Central) Rohit Rajbir Singh said the Congress had first approached the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to check the availability of the venue. The civic body informed the party that the ground would be available from October 25 to November 3, following which it approached the police for the NOC.

“After interacting with them and understanding the security arrangements required, we have today granted them the no-objection certificate,” Mr. Singh said.

The ground will be booked for the period from October 25 to November 3. Other stakeholders or organisers seeking to use the venue can follow the same procedure, the officer said.

On October 5, the Congress announced a series of nationwide campaigns against Mr. Kumar and what it alleges is vote theft, under the slogan ‘Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao’ (Save your vote, save the country).

The announcement followed a meeting chaired by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge at the party headquarters, Indira Bhawan, in New Delhi. The two-hour meeting was attended by general secretaries, State in-charges and Pradesh Congress Committee presidents, along with former party chief and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.

The Congress on Monday (September 28, 2026) stepped up its agitation against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, holding protest marches across Maharashtra and demanding his removal and arrest over alleged irregularities in electoral rolls and the conduct of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).

According to the Maharashtra Congress, demonstrations were held outside district collectorates across the State, including in Pune, Nagpur, Nashik, Kolhapur, Solapur, Thane, Amravati and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. Party leaders and workers submitted memoranda to district collectors seeking Mr. Kumar’s removal from office and action against him.

The protests come amid intensified Opposition criticism of the Election Commission following an Indian Express investigation which reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally raised objections at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders concerning electoral rolls that they said were taken without their knowledge or approval.

The objections concerned issues including the addition and deletion of voters, changes to Form 6, appeals involving electoral-roll decisions and control over the voter database. Some of the internal notes described particular steps as “unauthorised” or “illegal”. The ECI has said the notes were part of its normal internal decision-making process and maintained that its decisions over the period were unanimous, arguing that focusing on individual notes without considering the larger body of approvals and decisions presented only part of the picture.

The report prompted several Opposition parties to renew their attacks on Mr. Kumar and the functioning of the poll body, with Congress leaders arguing that the internal objections supported concerns they had previously raised about electoral-roll revisions. Opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Uddhav Thackeray, have subsequently sought action against Mr. Kumar, while the ECI has rejected suggestions that the reported differences showed its decisions were not collectively taken.

As part of Monday’s Maharashtra protests, Congress workers in Amravati paraded an effigy of Mr. Kumar on a donkey, while in Thane, according to the party, protesters made an effigy perform sit-ups.

The Kolhapur protest was led by Congress Legislative Council group leader and former minister Satej Patil, while Congress Working Committee member and MP Praniti Shinde participated in the agitation in Solapur. In Amravati, former minister Yashomati Thakur and MP Balwant Wankhade participated, while MP Kalyan Kale joined the protest in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.

Congress MPs Pratibha Dhanorkar, Ravindra Chavan and Shivaji Kalge participated in demonstrations in Chandrapur, Nanded and Latur, respectively, while former MP Kumar Ketkar was present at the Thane protest, the party said.

Similar demonstrations were held in Beed, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Raigad, Dharashiv, Yavatmal, Hingoli, Jalna, Parbhani, Palghar, Nandurbar, Bhandara and Akola, among other districts, according to the Congress.

The party alleged that electoral-roll revisions under Mr. Kumar had benefited the ruling BJP and claimed that the internal objections reported within the Election Commission corroborated concerns previously raised by Rahul Gandhi. The Congress also cited the deletion of more than 13 crore names from draft electoral rolls during the SIR process across 30 states and Union Territories while attacking the poll body’s handling of the exercise. The Indian Express reported that more than 13 crore names had been removed from draft rolls during the exercise; this figure by itself does not establish that those deletions were improper.

The Maharashtra Congress said it would continue its agitation until Mr. Kumar was removed and action was taken against him, and warned that it would intensify the protests in the coming days.

The Kalaburagi District Congress Committee staged a protest in the city on Sunday condemning the alleged ‘purification’ ritual performed at a venue in Haldwani, Uttarakhand, where Congress president and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, a Dalit leader, had addressed a public meeting.

The protest came days after Mr. Kharge raised the issue in the Rajya Sabha, describing the incident as a reflection of the persistence of untouchability and caste discrimination which was prohibited in the Constitution. The controversy had erupted after a ritual was reportedly conducted at the Ramlila Maidan following his August 8 rally. The matter has since triggered a political row, with the government promising the Rajya Sabha that the allegation would be looked into.

The Congress protest began from the party’s district office off Sedam Road and culminated near Annapurna Cross. Party workers raised slogans against the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and what they described as communal and casteist tendencies. They also burnt tyres as a mark of protest.

The protesters carried placards carrying slogans such as “80 years of Independence, has casteism still not gone?”, “The Constitution is our religion and equality is its goal”, “Purification should be of the mind, not by caste”, “Before cleansing the soil, cleanse your minds” and “Hail unity, condemn hatred”.

District Congress Committee president and MLC Jagdev Guttedar, MLA Allamaprabhu Patil, and another MLC Tippannappa Kamaknoor addressed the protesters.

MLA of Kalaburagi North Kaneez Fatima, Kalaburagi Urban Development Authority chairman Mazhar Alam Khan, former Minister Revu Naik Belamagi, district president of the Five Guarantee Committee Chandrika Parameshwar, District Mahila Congress president Renuka Singe, District Youth Congress president Shakeel Ahmed Saradagi and party leaders Dr Kiran Deshmukh, Rajiv Jane, Subhash Rathod and Bhimrao T.T. were among those who participated in the protest along with hundreds of party workers.

The Congress on Monday (July 6, 2026) accused the Modi government of putting India’s education system into the “ICU” and pressed for its demands that Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan should resign, a probe be conducted into his alleged connections with the paper leak mafia and a comprehensive reform of the system.

Party leader and NSUI in-charge Kanhaiya Kumar said Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, is meeting students across the country and listening to their concerns, so that the education system can be overhauled.

“With the same objective, Rahul Gandhi Ji had given a presentation among students and their parents in Kota. Now we are taking this campaign forward in different parts of the country. We are compiling suggestions from students, teachers, and parents,” Mr. Kumar said.

He was addressing a press conference along with NSUI president Vinod Jakhar, and party leaders Kiran Mugabasav, Nishant Mandal and K K Shastri.

“In the coming days, we will create an Education Charter to change the education system and set it right,” Mr. Kumar said.

The Modi government has put India’s education system into the ICU, he alleged.

Listing the party’s demands, Mr. Kumar said Mr. Pradhan should resign and an investigation should be conducted into his connections with the paper leak mafia.

“India’s education system should be reformed, for which the UPA government had formed a committee, but the NDA government arbitrarily established the NTA.

“A regular job calendar should be issued for the youth and an academic calendar should be released for examination recruitment processes,” Mr. Kumar demanded.

In his remarks at the presser, Mr. Jakhar claimed that the country’s education system is in shambles, and educational institutions are being ruined.

“Across the entire country, student union elections have been shut down as part of a conspiracy, allowing BJP-RSS affiliates to maintain their authoritarian grip on college and university campuses,” he alleged.

Mr. Jakhar said the Vice-Chancellor of Delhi University is receiving repeated extensions, which raises serious questions. “On what basis is their tenure being extended,” he asked.

“If any student raises their voice on campus today, they are threatened with legal cases. Individuals aligned with a specific ideology are being recruited into colleges and universities. That’s why NSUI has initiated the organisation’s elections; we will form our units in every campus through elections,” he said.

The NSUI will give such students the opportunity to raise their voices, he added.

Mr. Mugabasav said the election schedule will be announced state-wise, according to the roster provided by the NSUI.

“The first step will be a membership drive in the states identified by the NSUI. Then the Chief Election Authority [CEA] will visit the respective State, hold a press conference, and officially announce the election process.

“The entire process will be tech-savvy, with an app-based, online system that is free, fair, and transparent in nature,” he said.

Mr. Shastri said the Congress leadership has constituted a Central Election Authority to conduct internal elections in NSUI on April 30, which will work to ensure free and fair elections across the entire country.

A section of Congress members staged demonstrations in Tiruchi and in Pudukottai district on Friday condemning the BJP-led NDA government for the question paper leak in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) leading to the cancellation of the examination and the controversies surrounding other exams in the country. 

The demonstrating party members condemned what they claimed the continued institutional failures in the examination system and demanded the sacking of the Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. 

In Tiruchi, a group of party members, led by the Tiruchi Urban District Congress Committee president L. Rex, staged the demonstration near the Teppakulam post office and raised slogans against the Centre. 

In Pudukottai district, the demonstration was organised by the party’s Pudukottai District Congress Committee (North) at Viralimalai condemning the NDA government on the same issue. 

The party members accused the Centre of “administrative inefficiency” for the NEET question paper leak leading to the cancellation of the examination and the irregularities in NEET.  The demonstration was led by the Pudukottai District Congress Committee (North) president D.D. Bennett Anthonyraj.