Who is attending INDIA Bloc meet today? Mamata Banerjee, other top leaders gather in Delhi over EC row

You don’t have any Active Subscription.

Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge with Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi at the CWC meeting in New Delhi. File | Photo Credit: SHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAP

Top leaders of the INDIA bloc are meeting in the national capital on Wednesday (September 30, 2026) to discuss pressing issues, particularly focusing on irregularities surrounding the SIR exercise, and to finalise a high-stakes action plan for a nationwide joint agitation against the Election Commission (EC).

The primary agenda of the meeting is to finalise an action plan for a joint protest against the EC, specifically targeting the alleged irregularities in the SIR exercise and pushing for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation.

A draft notice has been prepared to introduce a motion both in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha for the CEC’s removal and various leaders are expected to contribute suggestions during the upcoming deliberations.

Several key leaders and the Congress party leadership met in New Delhi on September 30.

Key participants include Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Rahul Gandhi, AICC general secretaries Jairam Ramesh and K. C. Venugopal, along with TMC leaders Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee. Leaders from various parties such as the SP, CPI, CPI(M), NCP(SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT) are also in attendance.

Some notable allies will not participate in the meeting. Both the DMK and AAP have made clear that they will not attend. Moreover, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav will also not attend on account of nominations for Rajya Sabha polls in UP, though he will be sending representatives in his stead.

Speaking about the meeting, Mr. Venugopal said, “Tomorrow, there is an INDIA bloc meeting. The Congress wants to hold a massive agitation to save democracy in the country with the help of all political parties. There will be valuable suggestions from leaders of the INDIA bloc tomorrow; after that we will sit and formalise the clear action plan for the future agitation.”

Asked about Mr. Yadav not coming to the meeting, Mr. Venugpal said, “I spoke to Akhilesh Yadav, Congress president Malikarjun Kharge also spoke to him. He has Rajya Sabha election nominations to take care of but his party leaders are attending.”

Asked whether attempts would be made to get parties like the DMK and AAP on board, Mr. Venugopal said those types of issues would be discussed.

“The DMK was very much part of INDIA bloc. Still we believe they are all against this type of attack on democracy. That is our thinking, let us see,” he added.

On the INDIA bloc meeting, DMK spokesperson T.K.S. Elangovan said, “Ideologically, we all stand together. Maybe we are not part of the INDIA alliance. That is different. But in Parliament, we will support whoever brings a removal motion against Gyanesh Kumar... our leader had issued a statement. On many of the issues where other opposition parties oppose the BJP, we will also stand by them. That doesn’t mean that we are together. We are not in the INDIA bloc.”

The issue of alleged irregularities in the SIR is being seen by the opposition INDIA bloc as an opportunity to close ranks and corner the government.

The meeting comes days after The Indian Express reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi objected on record at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders on the SIR (Special Intensive Revision) that they said were issued without their knowledge or recommendation.

The last meeting of the INDIA bloc had taken place on June 8.

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.