Parties aligned with the INDIA bloc have outlined a two-track response to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar — public demonstrations at the ground level alongside petitions filed through the courts — and have also directed attention toward the 2023 law that provides the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners with certain protections against legal proceedings stemming from actions taken in their official capacity.

Demonstrations held over a period of weeks — centred on accusations of procedural misconduct in the vote, among them allegations of ballot manipulation and questions surrounding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter registration lists — form the backdrop against which the Opposition has mounted its current campaign.

Objections from the bloc have centred on how the Chief Election Commissioner is appointed, with the absence of the Chief Justice of India from the panel that oversees that process drawing particular scrutiny.

At a public appearance in Bengaluru, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge raised questions about why Election Commissioners had been afforded legal protections he described as wider in scope than those extended to either the President or the Chief Justice of India. In a statement attributed to him, the position taken was that the protection diminished oversight mechanisms and that the administration had moved to erode the foundations of electoral democracy.

The claims put forward by the Opposition have not been independently verified.

A number of opposition figures have been travelling to the capital ahead of the campaign's upcoming phase. Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee arrived in Delhi ahead of the gathering, with RJD's Tejashwi Yadav and Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav both set to join her there.

A memorandum was delivered to President Droupadi Murmu by the alliance on an earlier occasion. According to unverified accounts, a delegation that sought a meeting with Chief Justice Surya Kant was turned away, with the visiting leaders told to bring their concerns before the court through a formal petition.

According to drafts reviewed ahead of its release, the memorandum is set to lay out a series of allegations directed at the CEC, challenge the legitimacy of the 2023 immunity law, and flag procedural concerns over the Chief Justice's absence from the appointment process. Among the anticipated contents are accusations — backed by documentary evidence the Opposition contends supports its position — that votes were stolen through the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS).

Party leadership at the Indian National Congress directed all members holding seats in both parliamentary chambers to remain in the capital. A planned trip to Goa was set aside by Rahul Gandhi, who instead convened meetings with the party's general secretaries and other senior figures.

Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were among the prominent figures taken into police custody during an INDIA bloc procession from Parliament to the Election Commission's office on 6 October — an event that forms the backdrop to the latest round of mobilisation. Rallies took shape in Central Delhi while a sit-in at Rajghat drew participants in the period that followed.

Opposition bloc representatives pointed to a weekend deployment in Delhi that drew on roughly 30,000 police officers alongside upwards of 7,000 paramilitary personnel. Organisers put the number of people taken into custody on Saturday at roughly 3,000 — individuals who had been making their way toward a rally directed at the CEC.

Plans to maintain pressure through street protests and courtroom challenges were outlined by the Opposition. Attention in the coming phase is expected to centre on three areas: how far legal immunity extends to Election Commissioners, the procedure through which the Chief Election Commissioner is appointed, and the questions raised over electoral rolls and postal ballots.