INDIA bloc parties staged a statewide shutdown over a mining-law amendment and called for the election chief’s resignation. The response across Odisha was mixed.
Organizers called for the bandh to run from dawn to dusk on October 8. The Hindu reported closures along major roads in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Berhampur and district headquarters towns. The parties said ambulances and students travelling to examinations would be exempt.
Long-distance buses remained at terminals, and passengers waited for the shutdown’s impact to ease. Protesters stopped some passenger vehicles to ask where they were going. The newspaper reported no violence.
The INDIA bloc opposed the 2026 amendment to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act and demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. The CPI(M) also cited more than 1,700 errors in school textbooks for Classes I to VIII and called for the resignation of Odisha’s education minister, Nityanand Gond.
CPI(M) state secretary Suresh Panigrahy said the MMDR amendment deprived Odisha of the right to tax mineral extraction and could harm the mineral-rich state’s economy over time. Those claims reflect the protesters’ position.
The Indian Express also reported disruption to normal life in the state during the bandh. INDIA bloc parties said their campaign over the demands would continue after the shutdown.