NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha leader of opposition and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi climbed atop barricades during the INDIA bloc MPs’ march from Parliament towards the Election Commission headquarters in New Delhi on Tuesday, demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation over irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, NCP-SP MP Supriya Sule and several other opposition leaders also joined the march, which was held amid heavy security and barricading around Parliament and the EC office. Security personnel stopped the march near the NITI Aayog office as the MPs raised slogans of “Vote Chor, Gaddi Chhod”.
INDIA bloc MPs stopped near Niti Aayog
Rahul Gandhi led several INDIA bloc MPs in a march from Parliament towards the Election Commission headquarters in New Delhi, with protesters carrying placards and cutouts of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The opposition MPs were demanding Kumar’s removal over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process.The INDIA bloc had announced the march from Parliament to Nirvachan Sadan as part of its campaign against the Election Commission’s handling of the electoral roll revision. The protest route saw heavy security deployment, with barricades placed across central Delhi and Rapid Action Force personnel deployed around Transport Bhawan ahead of the march.Security personnel stopped the MPs near NITI Aayog, preventing them from proceeding towards the ECI headquarters. Several opposition MPs then sat in protest near Parliament Street.The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) skipped the march, saying it would pursue the issue through its own means.
Opposition leaders detained
Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and other INDIA bloc MPs tried to enter the Election Commission office during their protest march against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, but were stopped by security personnel. After being prevented from entering the EC office complex, Congress leaders staged a sit-in outside the premises. The INDIA bloc MPs had marched from Parliament towards Nirvachan Sadan, demanding Kumar’s resignation.Earlier, Rahul Gandhi climbed atop heavy iron barriers near the NITI Aayog office and waved the tricolour while advancing towards the EC headquarters. Tensions escalated as Delhi Police detained Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, party General Secretary KC Venugopal and several other INDIA bloc leaders near the NITI Aayog office, where police had barricaded the route to prevent the opposition MPs from reaching Nirvachan Sadan.
Rahul, Priyanka Gandhi enter Akashvani Bhawan premises during EC protest
Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, along with some other supporters, entered the Akashvani Bhawan premises in an attempt to reach the Election Commission office during the INDIA bloc’s protest demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation.The Congress leaders and other MPs were earlier stopped by security personnel on Parliament Street near the NITI Aayog office while marching towards the EC headquarters. After being prevented from proceeding further, they sat on the road in protest. Rahul Gandhi and TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee later climbed atop a police barricade, while Priyanka Gandhi was taken to a waiting bus for detention.Priyanka Gandhi soon alighted from the bus and joined Rahul Gandhi at the Akashvani gate. Despite being stopped by police, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Congress MP Deepender Hooda entered the Akashvani Bhawan premises through the reception gate and were later seen sitting under a tree.
Security tightened around protest route
The march began amid heavy security deployment and barricading in and around Parliament and the Election Commission headquarters. Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut questioned the security arrangements, saying the MPs intended to proceed peacefully. He also alleged that the CEC had “no moral right” to continue in office, while CPI leader P Sandosh Kumar called him a “Cheating Election Commissioner”.Kharge, Akhilesh target EC over SIR as INDIA bloc MPs press for poll reformsCongress president Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that the Modi government was trying to take away the public’s right to vote and accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of acting at the government’s direction. “After independence, the public was given the right to vote, which the Modi government is trying to end. CEC Gyanesh Kumar is the government’s puppet. Gyanesh Kumar does exactly what Modi and Shah say. This will end democracy and the Constitution, and establish dictatorship. The INDIA alliance is fighting against this injustice. We will continue to fight and we will win,” Kharge said.On the INDIA bloc MPs’ protest march, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Arvind Sawant said, “We want Gyanesh Kumar to be removed, elections to be held on ballot papers, and thirdly, all the people whose names were struck off in the SIR here should be reinstated.” Sawant also alleged, “The Bharatiya Janata Party has a direct connection with the Election Commission.”Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav also raised the issue, according to the statement shared from Delhi.
Opposition steps up attack over SIR
The protest is part of the opposition’s sustained campaign against the SIR exercise and its demand for greater transparency from the poll panel. Congress MP Dharamveer Gandhi alleged that 13 crore votes had been deleted and called it the “biggest fraud in Indian political history”. Congress MP Imran Masood accused Kumar of eroding public trust in the Election Commission, while CPI MP P Sandosh Kumar said the Supreme Court’s observations had strengthened the opposition’s objections to the additional declaration attached to Form 6.“The main demands are crystal clear. Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar must go; he should resign. The SIR (Special Intensive Revision) should be scrapped. All the voters who have been removed or deleted under SIR must be restored back onto the voter list,” Congress Rajya Sabha MP Syed Naseer Hussain told ANI. He also demanded a high-level inquiry into alleged political interference in the election machinery.
Form 6 row fuels political clash
The march comes a day after the Supreme Court said it had not approved any modified version of Form 6 and said it would examine the Election Commission’s records to determine whether changes had been made and who had authorised them. The EC had earlier said the declaration attached to Form 6 for SIR had been upheld by the Supreme Court and that the forms prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, would be used outside the SIR period.Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said, “How can the BJP blatantly deny that the Chief Justice of India did not say that… he said it clearly, ‘we have not approved any modifications to Form 6.’ I have seen the declaration…
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the declaration is indeed a modification of Form 6.”Rahul Gandhi had accused the CEC of changing the application used by citizens to register as new electors “illegally and unilaterally”. BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra, however, accused Gandhi of misleading the public, saying the Supreme Court had not declared Form 6 illegal and had only agreed to examine allegations concerning changes to the form. The Election Commission has rejected allegations of differences within the three-member poll panel and maintained that decisions relating to SIR were taken unanimously.
