India’s opposition leader Rahul Gandhi was briefly detained by police on Tuesday during a march protesting against the Election Commission, demanding its chief resign and alleging wrongdoing during a revision of voter rolls.
An AFP reporter saw Gandhi, a leader of the Congress Party, standing on a police barricade and waving an Indian flag. Officers detained him briefly, along with other lawmakers, and then released them soon after.
The police also detained several protesters gathered outside the Akashvani premises as the standoff that began after the Opposition's march towards the Election Commission headquarters finally ended with the Gandhi siblings being taken away.
Rahul and Priyanka had moved into the Akashvani Bhawan premises after the police stopped the march of more than 300 Opposition MPs towards Nirvachan Sadan and began detaining leaders. Instead of waiting to be taken away with the other MPs, the two changed course and entered the broadcasting house, turning the road protest into an unexpected sit-in inside the premises.
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Main opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, his sister Priyanka and other MPs were forced into a police bus. Released shortly after, they resumed their march and began a sit-in near Election Commission headquarters.
It is the latest escalation in a growing row over a nationwide revision of voter rolls.
Opposition parties accuse Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of overseeing a process that could benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), an allegation both the BJP and Election Commission have rejected.
AFP via Getty Images Security officials belonging to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel assemble near the Election Commission of India office in New Delhi ahead of the protest march on 6 October.AFP via Getty Images
Security officials blocked the roads from India's parliament to the election commission headquarters
"Some of the MPs tried to take some other roads to the Election Commission building. We have officers stationed at multiple points, from where the protesters were picked up in buses and taken to different police stations," Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Manjeet Sheoran told the BBC. The police did not disclose how many lawmakers had been detained. The opposition said 237 MPs from a range of parties participated in the march
Tuesday's protest came just four days after the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), a Gen Z-backed online satirical movement, organised demonstrations in Mumbai and Delhi, also demanding the CEC's resignation. The group has described those demonstrations as the beginning of a nationwide campaign and has called for another round of protests on 10 October.
At the centre of the controversy is the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The exercise began in the eastern state of Bihar in June 2025 before being expanded to other parts of the country. The Election Commission says the revision is intended to remove duplicate and ineligible voters from electoral rolls. More than 130 million names have so far been removed from draft voter lists nationwide.
Opposition parties and activists allege that many eligible voters have been wrongly excluded and accuse the poll body of conducting the process improperly.
The campaign against Kumar gathered momentum after an investigation by the Indian Express newspaper reported that election commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally objected at least 14 times over a 10-month period to decisions and orders they said had been issued in the Election Commission's name without their knowledge.
According to the report, the objections related to issues including additions and deletions from voter rolls, access to the voter database and the security of electoral data. Some concerns were linked directly to the electoral roll revision programme.
The Election Commission, a three-member body comprising the chief election commissioner and two election commissioners, defended its decision-making process, saying differing views were part of institutional functioning and that decisions had ultimately been taken unanimously.
The revelations nevertheless triggered a political backlash, with opposition leaders intensifying calls for Kumar's resignation.
Getty Images India's Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, wearing a grey suit, white shirt and a tie, addressing a press conference in October 2025, addressing the schedule of regional elections in Bihar state.Getty Images
India's Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar is at the centre of a controversy over allegations of manipulating voter rolls
Security was tightened around the Election Commission headquarters on Tuesday, with police barricading roads along the route between parliament and the commission's office.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge described three demands as "non-negotiable": Kumar's resignation, cancellation of the SIR exercise and a return to paper ballot voting.
Mocking the election chief, Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the opposition in India's lower house of parliament, tweeted: "Gyanesh, it's done, bro. Time to resign."
BJP MP Sambit Patra described them as a "sponsored attempt" to bring about a change of power through "anarchy". He accused opposition parties of seeking to undermine constitutional institutions, including the Election Commission.
The controversy has also reached India's Supreme Court, which has asked both the federal government and the Election Commission to respond to a petition alleging that Kumar took key decisions without the approval of the two other election commissioners.
The petition argues that Kumar exercised powers that belong to the commission collectively and seeks a ruling that any such actions were unauthorised.
The court indicated that Election Commission decisions must be taken either unanimously or by majority vote and suggested that decisions could be set aside if found to have bypassed that process. However, it declined to suspend Kumar at this stage, saying it would first hear the Election Commission's response and examine relevant records.