Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi

New Delhi, Oct 13: Congress leaders on Tuesday asserted that their agitation against the Election Commission of India (ECI) would continue until justice was delivered and Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar resigned from his post.

They also claimed that the large turnout during the INDIA bloc's protest march towards the Supreme Court reflected growing public awareness of the situation in the country and concerns over alleged electoral irregularities.

Congress MP Pramod Tiwari said the INDIA bloc remained united in its efforts to defend democracy and safeguard the voting rights of citizens.

"The INDIA bloc stands united to defend Mother India's democracy and protect voting rights. We will continue to fight this battle. The number of people who came yesterday to support us was historic," Tiwari told reporters.

Congress MP Imran Masood also highlighted the large gathering in the national capital during the protest, saying he had never witnessed such a scene in his decades-long political career.

"Just look at the situation in Delhi yesterday; I had never seen anything like it in my life. In my 30-35 years of political life, I had never witnessed such a scene in Delhi. There was a peculiar atmosphere yesterday; it seems people have realised the situation," Masood told reporters.

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Congress president Aradhana Mishra Mona alleged that more than 13.5 crore names had been deleted from electoral rolls under the pretext of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.

Questioning the impact of such deletions on democracy and citizens' constitutional rights, she stressed that the right to vote was fundamental to the survival of democracy.

"More than 13.5 crore people's names have been deleted under the pretext of SIR. These are the people who are citizens of this country. Most of the petitions that were filed were also accepted. I want to ask: if people are deprived of or stripped of the right to vote, which is the greatest right in a democracy, will democracy survive? Will the Constitution survive? The people who were on the streets of Delhi yesterday were fighting to protect the democracy and Constitution of this country," Mishra told reporters.

Congress spokesperson Surendra Rajput also maintained that the party would continue its agitation, alleging that electoral irregularities and "vote chori" were undermining democratic institutions.

"To save the Constitution and democracy, and to prevent 'vote chori' that is being done by Gyanesh Kumar, we will continue this fight. We have filed a petition in the Supreme Court and hope that we will get justice," Rajput told reporters.