Political resistance against vote chori will continue, not as parallel protests but as one movement: Rahul Gandhi

“There are no parallel protests, but only one movement to restore democracy,” the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said on Tuesday (October 13, 2026), as he hosted Opposition politicians, civil society activists, and student leaders for tea to discuss the future course of the agitation demanding the suspension of the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

Sources told The Hindu that leaders of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) were not present, although Mr. Gandhi had reached out to invite them to attend. The CJP had been among the youth movements that issued a call for Saturday’s (October 10) protest, provoking a harsh police crackdown.

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Mr. Gandhi, who hosted the discussion a day after the INDIA bloc’s united march to the Supreme Court to file a petition to halt the SIR, made it clear that political resistance will continue, regardless of the court’s response.

“We have extreme respect for the Supreme Court, for the Chief Justice of India, for the judicial system. They have a role to play; we hope they will play that role but we are also political people. No matter what happens, no matter which institution plays a role or not, political resistance will continue, people’s resistance will continue, and it will triumph,” he told reporters after the meeting.