Anti-CEC protest: Congress chief Kharge dons Batman mask during march to Supreme Court

NEW DELHI: Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge was seen donning a Batman mask on Monday while marching towards the Supreme Court to file a plea against poll body chief Gyanesh Kumar.Kharge, who was sitting next to Lok Sabha leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi, wore the superhero mask, which has become a trend in protests taking place around the world.However, this was not the first time the Congress had come up with the idea of using Batman for its political messaging.In August, posters portraying Rahul Gandhi as the “real-life Batman” was put up outside the Congress headquarters in Delhi.The posters feature the message, “The silent guardian, a watchful protector. LoP Rahul Gandhi, the real life batman.”Earlier this month, Rahul Gandhi launched an “Ask Me Anything” session inviting young people to question him on topics ranging from student protests and education to politics and philosophy. Announcing the initiative on X, Gandhi wrote, “Students, Gen-Z -- I'm here to listen."Ask me anything on Instagram, and I'll answer as many questions as I can.” One of the questions asked, “Are you Batman?” Gandhi appeared to play along with the long-running social media meme comparing him to the fictional superhero.“Let’s just say that no one has ever seen me and Batman in the same room together,” Rahul replied.Opposition stalwarts, along with hundreds of supporters and activists, undertook their "March for Democracy" to the Supreme Court on Monday on a heavily barricaded route and filed a joint petition against SIR and alleged poll irregularities, in another show of strength after a series of street protests over the "vote chori" charge.Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, CPI's D Raja, CPI-M leader M A Baby, RJD's Tejashwi Yadav, besides NCP-SCP leader Supriya Sule, were among those who joined the march.A day after the Chief Justice of India (CJI) declined a request for a meeting with the LoPs on the issue, saying the matter is sub judice, the opposition leaders filed the joint plea in the apex court over alleged large-scale voter deletions and irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.The opposition leaders had said they wanted to hand over a memorandum to the CJI demanding an end to vote chori, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar's resignation, halting of the SIR of electoral rolls and switching back to the paper ballot format.As police stopped the march at Bhagwan Dass Road, several leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Tejashwi Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav, climbed atop a vehicle and the procession moved forward after crossing the barricades, as supporters cheered and waved flags.In a charged atmosphere, leaders and their supporters raised slogans against the government, CEC Kumar and asserted that "vote chori" and SIR exercise would not be allowed.A large number of supporters had already reached the Barakhamba Road junction at Connaught Place, from where they marched a few kilometres towards the Supreme Court with Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra leading the protesters along with AISA chief Neha Bora.Shiv Sena-UBT leader Sanjay Raut, CPI-ML leader Dipankar Bhattacharya and IUML leader E T Mohammed Basheer were among those present, besides Karnataka chief minister D K Shivakumar, Himachal Pradesh chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy (all from Congress).Get the latest India News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.