New Delhi: High drama unfolded in the heart of the capital on Monday as Delhi Police detained senior opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, during a protest march to the Election Commission (EC) office. The demonstration, led by the Congress-headed INDIA bloc, accused the EC of colluding with the BJP to manipulate voter lists and commit large-scale electoral fraud.
The march began from outside Parliament and was intended to cover the short distance to the EC headquarters. However, heavy police deployment, barricades, and road blockades stopped the protesters barely a few hundred metres from the start.
Visuals from the scene showed senior leaders — including Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, and Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut — sitting on the road surrounded by party workers waving flags, chanting slogans, and clashing with security personnel. Some protesters attempted to climb over barricades before being restrained by police.
The standoff forced both Houses of Parliament to adjourn till 2 pm.
The opposition’s anger stems from what it calls a “pattern” of EC bias and voter list tampering in favour of the BJP. The flashpoint was last year’s Maharashtra election, where the opposition claimed the EC added an unusually high number of voters just six months after the BJP’s loss in the federal polls. Similar allegations have surfaced in Karnataka’s Lok Sabha elections.
Rahul Gandhi, armed with PowerPoint presentations at INDIA bloc meetings last week, demanded the EC publish a searchable draft of voter rolls to allow cross-verification by parties.
Adding fuel to the fire is the EC’s special intensive revision (SIR) of Bihar’s voter list ahead of state polls. Opposition leaders allege this is a targeted exercise to delete traditional anti-BJP vote banks. The revision has been challenged in the Supreme Court, which has allowed it to proceed but ordered safeguards to ensure genuine voters are not disenfranchised and that the 65 lakh excluded voters are given time to appeal.
The EC has defended its actions, rejecting allegations of bias, and demanded Rahul Gandhi file his claims in a sworn affidavit with evidence.
