Leader of Opposition, and Congress leader, Rahul Gandhi has been detained by Delhi Police on Tuesday evening, a whole nine hours after he led INDIA Bloc MPs and supporters in a march from Parliament to the Election Commission office in New Delhi. His sister and Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who was leading teh protest alongside him, has also also detained, with visuals showing the two being moved onto a police bus.
The detention came around 8 pm, nearly nine hours after the protest began. Sources told NDTV that Rahul Gandhi and other detained leaders were being taken to Kingsway Camp in north Delhi.
The two were briefly detained around noon as well and made to board a police bus. They were later seen leaving the vehicle, and jumping over the Akashvani Bhawan gate , resuming the sit-in protest there.
The high-stakes protest was organised by the INDIA Bloc over what the Opposition has described as unilateral decisions by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls. The protesters were demanding Kumar's resignation.
Visuals from the protest showed police personnel taking Rahul Gandhi away as Congress workers attempted to intervene.
The Opposition MPs had begun their march from the Parliament complex and were headed towards Nirvachan Sadan, the Election Commission's headquarters. Protestors, including party workers, carried banners reading 'Save Democracy' and raised slogans against Gyanesh Kumar.
The Opposition bloc has been working on a broader protest strategy against the Chief Election Commissioner following a meeting last week. The issue has also drawn attention beyond mainstream political parties, with the satirical Cockroach Janta Party representing Gen-Z support for the campaign.
Speaking to media during the protest, Rahul Gandhi questioned why the Opposition MPs were not being allowed to meet the Election Commission. He said that the Election Commission office was barely 50 metres away, but they were not allowed to go there, according to remarks shared by Congress sources.
Gandhi said around 300 MPs wanted to meet Gyanesh Kumar and questioned why the Election Commission was not meeting them. "If the representatives of the people cannot meet the Election Commission, then what is the meaning of democracy?" he said.
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