Police in Delhi detained several opposition lawmakers as they tried to march demanding that the chief election commissioner resign over a controversial voter roll revision.
Opposition leaders Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka, along with other MPs, were briefly held on a police bus. After being released, they resumed their march and staged a sit‑in near the Election Commission headquarters.
The protest comes amid a nationwide overhaul of electoral rolls – the Special Intensive Revision – which has attracted criticism from opposition parties who claim it unfairly removes eligible voters and could benefit the ruling party. The Election Commission says the revision removes duplicate and ineligible names from the rolls.
Opposition parties have called for the resignation of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, the cancellation of the revision exercise and a return to paper ballot voting. The ruling party has defended the commission, labeling the protests as an attempt to destabilise constitutional institutions.
The Supreme Court has asked both the federal government and the Election Commission to respond to a petition that the chief commissioner acted without the approval of the other election commissioners. The court said decisions must be taken unanimously or by majority vote and may be set aside if found to have bypassed that process, but it has not suspended the commissioner.
At the time of the protest, roads between Parliament and the Election Commission were barricaded and security was tightened. The opposition said about 237 MPs had participated, while police said they had collected some of the lawmakers in buses for transfer to police stations.
