On Saturday, the Delhi Police gave the Congress party a no-objection certificate (NOC) to hold a rally at Ramlila Maidan on November 1. A senior officer confirmed the clearance, which allows the party to start preparing for the event. The rally is part of the INDIA bloc’s campaign against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, announced last month.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Central District, Rohit Rajbir Singh said the Indian National Congress asked the police for the required NOC after checking with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi about the ground’s availability. He said, “Ramlila Maidan, CBD Ground and Burari Ground have been designated as protest sites.”
DCP said the Congress checked with the MCD to see if Ramlila Maidan was available for the rally. The MCD told the party the ground would be free from October 25 to November 3. After getting the availability certificate and talking with party representatives about security, the police issued the NOC for those dates. The Congress will now give the certificate to the MCD before starting preparations at the site.
The police said they are working closely with the organisers, traffic police, and other agencies to manage law and order, traffic, and the rally’s smooth running. Ramlila Maidan is now one of the new protest sites after Jantar Mantar was removed from the list.
The November 1 rally is part of the INDIA bloc’s joint action plan, decided on September 30. At that meeting, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said all parties agreed to support elections with ballot papers instead of electronic voting machines (EVMs). He also announced the party would hold a large rally in Delhi on November 1.
The plan includes ‘Save Democracy’ marches, protests in districts, and a march by Opposition MPs to the Election Commission. The Opposition is calling for more transparency in how electoral rolls are updated and wants to bring back paper ballots. Leaders have often raised concerns about the number of names added or removed during the revision, saying it supports their claims of “vote chori.”
The September 30 meeting took place amid disagreements within the Election Commission, with reports that two Election Commissioners officially objected to some SIR-related decisions. The Opposition has also filed a petition in the Supreme Court, alleging large-scale voter deletions and poll irregularities.
The event at Ramlila Maidan is set to be the main rally in Delhi to gather public support against the SIR and the use of EVMs. Since the venue is booked for nearly ten days, the Congress has enough time to organise the event while police manage the crowd and traffic in central Delhi. Getting this permission is a key step for the Opposition, even though the Election Commission says the SIR is only a routine update of the electoral rolls.