AAP & DMK to skip INDIA bloc meet: What is keeping the opposition apart?

The Opposition is attempting to mount a united front against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar but the parties likely to miss the INDIA bloc meeting in New Delhi on September 30. The meeting comes against the backdrop of ongoing controversy over the Election Commission's handling of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and allegations of internal divisions within the poll panel. Opposition parties are also set to present a fresh parliamentary motion for the removal of Kumar.

But AAP and DMK are not attending. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav is expected to remain away from the meeting despite the SP sending representatives.

The meeting, in other words, is less a marker of Opposition unity than an exercise in seeing if parties with competing political interests can coordinate on a singular issue.

Why is the Opposition meeting now?

The immediate context is the ongoing controversy involving the Election Commission and the SIR.

As recently reported by the Indian Express, Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections at least 14 times in 10 months over decisions and orders in relation to the electoral-roll revision exercise. The report also stated that some of these objections were over decisions that had allegedly been taken without their knowledge or recommendation.

The Election Commission has strongly contested the political narrative that emerged around this controversy. It has argued that differences during internal deliberations are the norm and that the Commission's decisions were unanimously taken.

The issue has also reached the Supreme Court, which has agreed to hear a petition challenging various aspects of the Election Commission's decision-making under CEC Gyanesh Kumar and questioning the legality of the nationwide SIR. These are arguments made by petitioner and not findings of the court.

Against this background, the INDIA bloc is looking to coordinate its political and parliamentary response.

What is the proposed motion against Gyanesh Kumar?

This will not be the first attempt at removing the CEC.

On March 12, Opposition MPs moved removal notices in both Houses of Parliament. The Lok Sabha notice was signed by 130 MPs while 63 Rajya Sabha MPs signed the corresponding notice. These were both rejected by the respective presiding officers.

Another notice was moved in the Rajya Sabha on April 24, signed by 73 MPs.

Opposition parties are now preparing another set of notices for both Houses, with the draft undergoing legal scrutiny before its submission.

The constitutional machinery for such a move is in place, though it will be considerably harder to succeed in. Under Article 324(5), the CEC can be removed "in the same manner and on the same grounds as a Judge of the Supreme Court" .

That means the level of statutory protections available to the CEC exceeds that of an ordinary government official. A political push for removal, therefore, becomes substantially different from asking for a resignation.

Why are AAP and DMK staying away?

This is where the conversation shifts from the Election Commission and enters Opposition politics.

AAP is not attending the meeting, albeit CPI(M) general secretary M.A. Baby recently met Arvind Kejriwal to discuss the EC controversy and SIR.

This should not be taken as an indication that AAP's absence from this meeting will automatically be read as an absence from the wider Opposition discourse on the Election Commission.

The DMK, meanwhile, has a different position. It has indicated that it is no longer part of the INDIA bloc. DMK parliamentary party leader Kanimozhi had said in August that the party was no longer part of the alliance.

DMK and Congress relations deteriorated after the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly election, with Congress subsequently moving towards an alliance with actor Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam . The DMK has maintained political distance from Congress since then.

The September 30 meeting, therefore, cannot be taken as a meeting featuring every Opposition party with concerns on the Election Commission.

And then there is Akhilesh Yadav.

The SP, yet again, has a different position. The party is expected to have representation at the meeting but Akhilesh Yadav is staying away due to the Rajya Sabha election schedule and growing negotiations with Congress over the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election.

The timing of the meeting is an interesting one. On September 24, Akhilesh launched his PDA Rath Yatra from Rae Bareli, the Lok Sabha constituency represented by Rahul Gandhi.

PDA stands for Pichhda, Dalit and Alpsankhyak - broadly, backward classes, Dalits and minorities - and it figures centrally in the SP's political strategy ahead of the Uttar Pradesh election.

The selection of a constituency associated with Congress and in which SP and Congress have yet to finalise a seat-sharing formula has attracted attention.

This does not represent an end to the alliance between these two parties. Akhilesh has argued that the SP-Congress alliance will continue and that seat-sharing should be based on winnability of candidates.

How serious is the Congress-SP seat-sharing dispute?

While the negotiations are significant, they are not conclusive.

Congress leaders have publicly indicated that they would like to contest at least 150 of Uttar Pradesh's 403 Assembly seats. A Congress leader has also expressed a view in favour of roughly equal distribution.

Meanwhile, SP sources have indicated that Congress could be given far fewer seats, with one report putting the figure at around 55.

These are clearly divergent positions but there is no formal agreement yet.

The 2024 Lok Sabha election results are also being cited in the political argument. SP won 37 of Uttar Pradesh's 80 Lok Sabha seats while Congress won six as an ally.

But this cannot be directly translated into a formula for Assembly seat-sharing. Any such calculation continues to be a political argument between alliance partners.

The real test on September 30

That is why this meeting matters. On the Election Commission issue, at least, Opposition parties have a common ground. But their wider political interests continue to be divergent.

Congress and AAP are political rivals in Punjab. Congress and SP are negotiating over their respective space in Uttar Pradesh. The DMK has moved away from the INDIA bloc after its relationship with Congress soured in Tamil Nadu.

But the Election Commission controversy has provided an opportunity for these parties to coordinate, at least on certain issues.

So the question in New Delhi is not so much whether the Opposition can collectively criticise the Election Commission but whether one common issue can provide enough impetus to coordinate actions across parties with increasingly divergent electoral strategies.

For now, the guest list is telling: the Opposition may have a common issue before it, but it is not one with a completely common political roadmap.