INDIA bloc's march against SIR: Rahul Gandhi, opposition leaders detained by Delhi Police

Rahul Gandhi detained at the protest site.

The Delhi Police on Monday detained Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra along with several opposition MPs during their march to the Election Commission's office. Leaders of the INDIA bloc staged a march from the Parliament complex to the poll body's office protesting against Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar.

Visuals from the protest site outside the Parliament building showed a teeming mass of politicians and party workers, many sitting on the roads, and others waving flags and banners, shouting slogans, and shoving and pushing back against the cops and their barricades.

Giving a nod to the grouping (INDIA bloc), the Election Commission, earlier today agreed to meet them at 12 pm and restricted the delegation to 30 members.

Over 300 MPs from 25 opposition parties marched from the Parliament to the ECI headquarters in the national capital on Monday to protest alleged “vote chori” (vote theft) in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar.

On Sunday, the Congress launched a web portal for citizens to register their support and demand accountability from the EC, urging release of digital voter rolls.

“Vote Chori is an attack on the foundational idea of ‘one man, one vote’. A clean voter roll is imperative for free and fair elections,” Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi posted on X. “Our demand from the EC is clear — be transparent and release digital voter rolls so that people and parties can audit them. The fight is to protect the democracy.”