New Delhi: The opposition INDIA bloc on Friday (October 30) postponed its “public impeachment” of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar due to rainfall in the national capital while alleging that Union home minister Amit Shah was “trying his best to stop people” from coming to Delhi for the rally planned on Sunday (November 1) at Ramlila Maidan.The decision to postpone the “public impeachment” was taken at a meeting of opposition leaders on Friday afternoon at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence. Following the meeting, Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi flanked by other leaders of the INDIA bloc addressed a joint press conference and said that the event would be held on Saturday (October 31).“By consensus, we have decided to postpone today’s programme to tomorrow at the same time. Because of the rain, we felt it would be uncomfortable for senior citizens to sit in the rain, so we will hold the exact same programme tomorrow,” Gandhi said.Also read: Former Lok Sabha Speaker to Preside Over Opposition’s ‘Public Impeachment’ of CEC Gyanesh Kumar“The day after, we have a march to Ramlila Ground, with all the opposition and everybody who wants to come, political, non-political, social service people, civil society people and journalists and both programmes are about the demolition of Indian democracy by Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and Gyanesh Kumar and his crew in the Election Commission,” he added. Further, Gandhi said that while Shah is “trying his best” to stop people, there is “huge anger” against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.“The home minister is trying his best to stop people from coming into Delhi, trying to ensure that our party members, thousands of common people who want to come from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Telangana, Punjab, are being stopped. And they’re trying their best. Now you watch what happens at Ramlila Ground. You watch how many people they manage to stop and how many people come. Huge anger, emotional pain. Because millions are being disenfranchised and their votes are being stolen from them to help Adani, Ambani, Modi, Shah, and Mohan Bhagwat,” the LoP said.Earlier on Friday, at the opposition leaders’ meet, The Wire has learnt that the parties decided that the “public impeachment” will be an effort to put up a political fight and not a legal fight, with political speeches to be made.The Wire has reported that the “public impeachment” proceedings will be presided over by former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, while Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge will begin the proceedings, followed by concluding remarks by Gandhi.During the proceedings, each party will be given five minutes time to speak, while the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) have been allotted 15 minutes. Members of the civil society will also participate in the event.On Sunday, the INDIA bloc has planned a show of strength at the Ramlila Maidan. The leaders have decided that it will be an open forum, where apart from the 19 opposition parties other civil society groups will also be welcomed. The opposition leaders, it is learnt, also discussed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in a reactive mode following the protests in the first two weeks of October. “As we said before, this is not multiple protests. This is one protest. The entire opposition is standing here. Anybody who wants to protest, any person, is welcome to come here. We are all standing together because we are defending the constitution. We are defending the idea of India. We are defending the vote, which is the expression of all Indians,” said Gandhi at the press conference on Friday.Also read: CJP Extends Support to November 1 INDIA Bloc Protest: ‘For Every Adult Citizen’s Right to Vote’The public impeachment comes after the opposition notice to move an impeachment motion against Kumar, given in the Rajya Sabha in April and signed by 73 MPs, is still pending. That notice was given after two separate notices submitted in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on March 12, which accused Kumar of “misbehaviour”, were rejected on April 6. The notice in the upper house was signed by 63 MPs, while the one in the Lok Sabha was signed by 130 MPs.The weekend of protests in Delhi comes after a brief lull in the protests against Gyanesh Kumar with the onset of the festive season. Through October, opposition parties, student organisations and the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) had led widespread protests demanding the CEC’s resignation following the revelations in The Indian Express’ report last month that revealed that the two Election Commissioners (ECs) Vivek Joshi and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu had objected 14 times in 10 months to the conduct of the SIR, and against centralised decision making, often without their knowledge. Opposition protests were met with police detentions, and police brutality. While the Election Commission has this week in its affidavit in the Supreme Court, sought to show a sense of unanimity, The Wire has reported that it has not disputed any of the revelations in the IE report. The BJP has separately held a “save democracy” walkathon in Chandni Chowk earlier this week against the protests planned by the opposition. Separately a “mock parliament” was held at NDMC convention centre on Friday by citizens for democracy.The Congress on the other hand accused the BJP-led government of orchestrating the event after “making a mockery of parliament itself.”“BJP-sponsored outfits holding a ‘mock Parliament’ after 12 years of BJP making a mockery of parliament itself,” said Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal.“First treat parliament as a rubber-stamp to steamroll Bills and silence the opposition, and now run a ‘mock parliament’ to make a cruel joke of democracy itself,” he added.For our full coverage on the SIR and the issues it has brought to citizens, click here.