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Rahul Gandhi leads opposition protest, calls for Election Commissioner to step down
Rahul Gandhi accused the government of electoral manipulation, while the BJP dismissed the protest as a frustration of defeated opponents.
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The Opposition on Tuesday attempted to ratchet up pressure on chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to resign with an unprecedented protest in central Delhi that lasted nine hours, drawing furious responses from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
At least 300 lawmakers from the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) marched from Parliament to the Election Commission of India (ECI), demanding Kumar’s resignation. When police stopped them outside Nirvachan Sadan, more than 250 Opposition members were detained. However, after a brief standoff, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, along with 20 others, walked into the Akashvani Bhavan campus next door and continued their protest till about 8pm.
The leaders were finally detained amid high drama around 8pm, when a phalanx of policemen physically dragged away the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and put him inside a bus, but not before Rahul Gandhi attempted to escape through the window of the vehicle.
Deep Dive
The Congress alleged that Gandhi, Venugopal and some others were manhandled and dragged into buses.
They were packed into the vehicles, taken to Kingsway Camp, and subsequently released around 10.15pm. A police aware who did not want to be named said that Congress workers reached the New Police Lines area and attempted to scale walls of the premises.
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Gandhi alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat “hijacked” the country with Kumar’s help by stealing votes.
“What has been done to our country is treason. Nobody is going to escape,” he said.
The BJP hit back. Those who looted the country in power are now talking about ‘theft’...repeated defeats have left Congress frustrated, now it has resorted to threats,” Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said.
The Election Commission of India in a statement said that no political party had sought an appointment till 4pm to meet the authorities. The ECI said that at 4pm, the police informed the poll body that 240 MPs want to meet the election commissioner at Parliament House annexe. “The commission considered the request as unusual and therefore, could not be accepted,” the poll body said in a statement. The election commission said it was ready to send its senior official to collect the memorandum from the protesting leaders, but the MPs did not agree to it.
The show of strength – which included the Biju Janata Dal, once friendly to the BJP, and the INDIA bloc’s estranged member Aam Aadmi Party – is part of the Opposition’s plan to mount pressure on Kumar over the controversial special intensive revision and other allegations. The developments come after an Indian Express investigation said election commissioners SS Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had recorded written dissents and objections at least 14 times between November 2025 and August 2026 and even written to the cabinet secretary. It also alleged that election officials found their access to the ECI software curtailed by the central IT team. ECI said differing views and observations were a normal part of deliberation and that all its digital platforms operated under strict data security protocols.
The march began at 10.45am from Parliament, attended by 23 parties. “Gyanesh, it’s done, bro. Time to resign,” Rahul Gandhi said in a post on X at 11.05am. Later he said, “More than 300 Opposition MPs marched from Parliament to the Election Commission today to meet the election commissioners. We represent crores of Indians. - Why aren’t the election commissioners meeting us? Why is the police stopping and threatening us?”
The march featured a huge ‘Save Democracy’ banner, morphed photos of Kumar in RSS uniform and slogans demanding his resignation. Trinamool Congress’s Derek O’Brien sported the red cap of the Samajwadi Party, the Left leaders had red stoles, and many MPs carried posters criticising Kumar.
The march reached Akashvani Bhavan at around 11.05am, when huge barricades and police stopped them. More than 200 leaders – including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav – were detained by the police and taken away. Authorities had cordoned off roads in a diameter of roughly two kilometres around ECI on Ashoka Road since 8am.
At one point, buoyed by cheers of onlookers, Rahul Gandhi climbed atop multi-layer steel barricades, stood on them and waved the Tricolour, before slipping through the police cordons to sneak into the premises of All India Radio (AIR).
As MPs were being detained, Rahul Gandhi dashed towards the reception entrance of Akashvani Bhavan, catching many opposition MPs, including some from his own party, by surprise. At the entrance, staff tried to prevent Rahul Gandhi from entering, leading to a brief standoff. He eventually pushed his way inside, accompanied by his security personnel.
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Rahul Gandhi sat under a tree as staff of the broadcasting house rushed outside to watch the unfolding drama. Several took selfies with him, and others climbed onto the building’s terrace to get a view, prompting police to ask them to come down. Besides the Gandhis, the leaders who joined them inside the AIR premises included KC Venugopal, Derek O’Brien, Mahua Moitra, Manish Chatrath, and BV Srinivas.
By 3pm, several MPs had started returning to the protest site after being released from detention. Refreshments also began arriving for those inside.
As the standoff spilled into the evening and then night, the Congress leaders attacked Kumar and the government. “All I want to do is meet the CEC and tell him that he has done ‘vote chori’. I can continue to sit here. I am comfortable here…If they don’t want us to sit here, give us some other site,” Rahul Gandhi said.
The protest finally ended at 8pm.
In August 2025, Opposition leaders had taken out a similar march to hand over a memorandum to ECI against SIR. The INDIA group has also sought time from President Droupadi Murmu to meet her over SIR-related issues.
According to several Opposition MPs, the march started as a collective protest, but Rahul Gandhi’s decision not to be driven away by the police and stage a second stir at Akashvani Bhawan put the spotlight on his role as the LoP. Notably, BJD joined the protest. The party’s parliamentary party leader in the Rajya Sabha, Manas Mangaraj, said the decision was taken at the direction of party president Naveen Patnaik. “As directed by our party president Patnaik, our MPs will participate in the protest march,” Mangaraj said.
Initially, the Samajwadi Party tried to maintain its own identity during the protest. They gathered separately, walked as a group, and when the march hit the police barricades, the SP shifted towards the Niti Aayog while other MPs sat down on Sansad Marg. Some SP leaders even climbed up the barricades. After half an hour, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra took the initiative to bring Akhilesh Yadav and his party leaders in the main group. “Those who fight for the sake of the country do not fear arrest. BJP itself is the CEC. The nation’s unanimous voice, CEC, submit your resignation!” Yadav posted on X.
