BRS backs Gyanesh Kumar ouster demand, boost to Oppn ahead of Prez House march

The Bharat Rashtriya Samithi (BRS) joined the chorus demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s ouster hours before the Opposition’s planned march to meet President Droupadi Murmu on Friday to press for his resignation.

Opposition lawmakers have taken to the streets of Delhi and clashed with police for three days. They held a sit-in protest at the Rajghat memorial complex on Thursday demanding Kumar’s removal.

“Nothing is greater than the Constitution of India. And no indian citizen can be stripped of their right to vote. Gyanesh Kumar must go! No individual is above the institution,” said former Telangana minister and BRS working president K T Rama Rao on X. “This nation has seen many individuals come and go -and it has stayed strong, it has survived beautifully. So why this desperation to protect one man? How can one man be greater than the rights of 1.4 billion Indians?”

Rao said time is up for Kumar and for anyone trying to build a quasi-system that destroys the soul of this great nation. He reiterated the BRS’s stand that the Supreme Court should take suo motu cognisance of the irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and order an independent investigation headed by a sitting judge.

People aware of the matter said Rao’s post came after the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) reached out to BRS to expand support for Kumar’s resignation. BRS is the main Opposition party in Congress-ruled Telangana. The Congress has been leading the protests against Kumar. In many cases, the BRS had offered tacit support to the Narendra Modi government to pass bills in Parliament.

TMC Rajya Sabha floor leader Derek O’Brien welcomed the BRS’s stand. He added that the BRS is unlikely to join the Opposition protests.

Former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee this month said she is in touch with parties averse to the Bharatiya Janata Party but not friendly to the Congress.

On Tuesday, another fence-sitter, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), joined the protests as the Opposition marched to the Election Commission of India (ECI) headquarters. BJD has been supportive of the BJP and averse to the Congress.

Banerjee arrived in Delhi on Thursday evening to join the Friday march. “A request for an appointment with the President has been made,” she said before leaving for Delhi.

The Opposition protests began after an Indian Express investigation said election commissioners SS Sandhu and Vivek Joshi objected at least 14 times between November 2025 and August 2026 to the decisions on SIR and even wrote to the cabinet secretary. Election officials allegedly found their access to the ECI software curtailed by the central IT team.

The Opposition has organised “Save Democracy” marches across the country. It has planned a rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan on November 1, along with six marches from Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh on Constitution Day on November 26. The Opposition plans five large rallies outside Delhi and intends to approach the judiciary for expedited hearings in cases related to SIR.