New Delhi:
In an attempt to keep up the pressure on the Centre over the Gyanesh Kumar issue, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi is hosting high tea for leaders from the INDIA bloc as well as student bodies.
The tea huddle is being held at the Congress MP's 5, Sunehri Bagh Road residence in Delhi, and several leaders have started arriving.
A post on X by Gandhi indicated that the Congress has decided to join forces with others, beyond the INDIA bloc, on the issue to avoid the protests becoming fragmented. There was, however, no mention of the Cockroach Janta Party.
"Today I have invited the leaders of the INDIA alliance, opposition MPs, student organisations, and people from civil society to my home for tea. In this people's movement to protect democracy, we are all together - and this movement will continue relentlessly. After tea, we will all come together and present our case in front of the media," he wrote.
"All protests are one. #Unity," he added.
आज मैंने INDIA गठबंधन के नेताओं, विपक्षी सांसदों, छात्र संगठनों और सिविल सोसाइटी के साथियों को अपने घर चाय पर बुलाया है। लोकतंत्र की रक्षा के इस जनांदोलन में हम सब एक साथ हैं - और ये आंदोलन लगातार जारी रहेगा। चाय के बाद हम सभी मिलकर मीडिया के सामने अपनी बात रखेंगे। All protests are one. #Unity
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) October 13, 2026
The meeting comes a day after Opposition members and student leaders, including All India Students' Association (AISA) Neha Bora, carried out a "March for Democracy".
Gandhi took part in the march to the Supreme Court, along with Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Mamata All India Trinamool Congress President Mamata Banerjee, RJD Working President Tejashwi Yadav, the CPI's D Raja, CPI(M)'s MA Baby and the NCP-SP's Supriya Sule.
The petition filed by Gandhi and others has made the Election Commission of India, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and other Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi parties to the case.
The plea seeks an examination of the decisions taken regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls, the submission of all records related to the procedure, the rollback of changes made to Form 6 for enrolling new electors and an independent audit, among others.