Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were detained by Delhi Police on Tuesday after INDIA bloc MPs were stopped during a march from Parliament towards the Election Commission headquarters in New Delhi. The protest targeted the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and sought the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
March Stopped Near NITI Aayog
The INDIA bloc began its “Save Democracy” march from Parliament, with opposition MPs heading towards Nirvachan Sadan. Security personnel stopped the march near the NITI Aayog building, with barricades preventing the protesters from proceeding further. Several leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, subsequently staged a sit-in near the barricades.
The protest came amid heightened security in central Delhi, following several days of demonstrations over the electoral-roll revision. Opposition leaders demanded that the march be allowed to proceed to the poll panel's office.
SIR at Centre of Political Dispute
The immediate background is the Opposition's campaign against the SIR exercise, which it says could result in legitimate voters being excluded from electoral rolls. Opposition parties have sought greater transparency over additions, deletions and corrections in voter lists, along with safeguards allowing affected voters to challenge deletions.
Rahul Gandhi has repeatedly referred to the allegations as “vote theft” and demanded greater access to booth-wise and constituency-wise electoral data.
The Election Commission, however, has rejected the allegations and maintained that SIR is intended to identify duplicate, ineligible or shifted voters while protecting the rights of eligible electors. The poll panel has also denied allegations that Form 6, used for voter registration, was altered during the process.
Detention Escalates Opposition-EC Confrontation
The detention marks another escalation in the continuing political confrontation over electoral-roll revisions. The INDIA bloc is demanding the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar, while the Election Commission maintains that the revision process is a lawful administrative exercise.
The dispute is now moving beyond Parliament into sustained street protests, with opposition parties planning further demonstrations. The latest confrontation in New Delhi is likely to keep electoral transparency, voter-list revisions and the independence of the Election Commission at the centre of the political debate.
(With agency inputs)
