The Delhi Police on Monday detained several leaders of the INDIA bloc, including Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, and representatives from Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and Samajwadi Party, as they marched towards the Election Commission of India headquarters, protesting against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar and alleged “vote theft” during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The march, which began from Parliament, saw high drama as Opposition MPs tried to push through Delhi Police barricades. Akhilesh Yadav was seen jumping over one barricade, while Mahua Moitra and other MPs made similar attempts. Several leaders, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Sayani Ghosh, Dimple Yadav, Sanjay Singh and Derek O’Brien, were bundled into police vans and taken away.
Protesters raised slogans such as “SIR wapis lo,” “Vote chori nahi chalegi,” “Jab jab Modi darta hai, police ko aage karta hai,” “Tanasahi nahi chalegi,” and “Modi sarkar down down.” MPs also staged a sit-in on the road after being blocked.
Soon after, the MPs were piled onto a bus. “The reality is that they cannot talk. The truth is in front of the country. This fight is to save the Constitution. This fight is for one man, one vote. We want a clean, pure voters list,” said Rahul Gandhi as he was being detained. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra accused the government of fear, saying, “The government is scared. The ones in power are cowards.”
TMC MP Sagarika Ghose alleged that women MPs had been physically assaulted during the protest. “We were exercising our democratic right to protest. Women MPs were pushed, shoved, and dragged by their hair. One woman MP even fainted. The way women MPs have been mistreated is the most shocking muzzling of democracy by the Modi government and Modi’s police. They are silencing us, pushing and shoving women MPs, and now we are being taken away on a bus.”
Akhilesh Yadav recalled past complaints against the Election Commission saying, “This is not the first time that fingers are being pointed at the Election Commission. The Samajwadi Party had made complaints earlier as well, during the UP by-elections. Police personnel were present at polling booths in civilian clothes and worked to ensure maximum votes were cast in favour of the BJP. Votes were looted in the Milkipur by-elections.”
Delhi Police officials maintained that the detentions were due to crowd size exceeding the permitted limit. DCP New Delhi Devesh Kumar Mahla said, “There was permission for 30 MPs from the Election Commission. Since they were in large numbers, we detained them. We will take 30 MPs to the ECI when we get their names.”
Joint Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Deepak Purohit added, “The detained INDIA bloc leaders have been taken to a nearby police station. There was no permission for a protest here, but we had intimation. If they decide, we will facilitate them to the Election Commission Office. There is proper police arrangement in the ECI.”
The protests also disrupted Parliament proceedings, with both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha adjourned till 2 pm amid Opposition uproar over the Bihar SIR and the “vote chori” allegations.
