New Delhi, Oct 06: High drama unfolded at the INDIA bloc march from Parliament Street to the Election Commission headquarters here on Tuesday as Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra along with some others entered the Akashvani Bhawan premises in a bid to reach the poll body’s office.
Several opposition leaders, including Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Trinamool Congress MPs Abhishek Banerjee and Derek O’Brien, were detained after police stopped the march.
Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi along with other MPs were earlier stopped by security personnel on Parliament Street in front of the Akashvani Bhawan and the Niti Aayog office during their march to demand Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation.
After being prevented from proceeding further, they sat on the road in protest. Soon Rahul Gandhi and TMC’s Abhisekh Banerjee climbed atop a police barricade, while Priyanka Gandhi was taken to a waiting bus for being detained.
However, she was soon seen alighting from it and joined her brother at the Akashvani gate.
Despite being prevented by police, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Deepender Hooda entered the Akashvani Bhawan premises from the reception gate. They were later seen sitting under a tree.
Police personnel were seen asking them to vacate the premises but the Gandhi siblings refused to relent and insisted that they want to go to the Election Commission office.
Area Deputy Commissioner of Police Sachin Sharma reached the spot with a large posse of policemen in a bid to evict the protesting opposition members.
During the march, opposition MPs were seen carrying cutouts depicting Kumar in an RSS uniform and raised slogans, including ‘BJP hi CEC hai’, ‘Vote chor, gaddi chhod’ and ‘Democracy not for sale .
In a post on X, Rahul Gandhi posted, “Gyanesh it’s done bro. Time to resign”.
Heavy security deployment and barricading had been put in place in and around Parliament and the Election Commission headquarters ahead of the march.
Security personnel were stationed in the area much before the MPs began arriving.
The MPs gathered at Parliament’s Makar Dwar before setting off towards Nirvachan Sadan, the Election Commission headquarters.
BJD MPs also joined the INDIA bloc MPs’ protest march, with the Congress asserting that the solidarity of the Opposition to defeat the nefarious designs of “the PM-HM duo” will most definitely be sustained whether it comes to “vote chori” or delimitation.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, “We have taken out a peaceful protest march this morning. It was basically the India Jan Bandhan. And we had appealed to all the opposition parties. I’m very happy that the BJD has responded physically, so we’ve had BJD MPs. And I’m sure the opposition parties that are not here physically are with us in spirit”.
Other Opposition parties were present no doubt in spirit as would have been some who are temporarily in the NDA, Ramesh said.
“The solidarity of the Opposition to defeat the nefarious designs of the PM-HM (Narendra Modi-Amit Shah) duo will most definitely be sustained whether it comes to Vote Chori or Delimitation,” the Congress general secretary said.
“The countdown to the exit of the Bharatiya Jhoot Party has already begun,” Ramesh added.
Giving details of the march, he said, “So this was meant to be a march till the Election Commission. We were stopped in front between Akashvani Bhawan and the old Planning Commission building. And we were prevented from going up to Nirvachan Sadan”.
“I think they are now going to detain us. But this is only the beginning.So, what have they already announced a month-long program, a month and a half-long programme? There’ll be a massive rally on the 1st of November in Ramlila Maidan, ‘vote bachao, desh bachao’. In the first phase, we are having padyatras and campaigns in every block. And then from October 25th till the 25th of November, we are going to have more intensive programs, the chaupals and so on,” he said.
CPI MP P Sandosh Kumar said the Supreme Court’s observations on Monday had strengthened the opposition’s objections to the additional declaration attached to Form 6 during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
“On September 26, there was a press statement by the Commission and it was stated that the entire process related to Form 6 has been ratified by the Supreme Court. Whereas it has been proven that it is an entirely misleading statement,” he alleged. Calling the CEC a “Cheating Election Commissioner”, the CPI leader said opposition parties had been agitating against the provisions since 2025 and would intensify their movement.
The Supreme Court on Monday said it had not approved any modified version of Form 6 and would examine the Election Commission’s records to ascertain whether changes had been made and who had authorised them.
The observations were made while hearing a petition challenging alleged unilateral decisions by Kumar.
In its September 26 statement, the Commission had said the declaration attached to Form 6 for SIR had been upheld by the Supreme Court, while forms prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, would be used outside the SIR period.
The protest comes amid an opposition campaign over alleged irregularities in the SIR exercise and reports of differences within the three-member Commission. The poll body has rejected suggestions of a split and maintained that decisions relating to SIR were taken unanimously.
