Barricades at the Election Commission: INDIA bloc MPs march, are detained, and demand the CEC quit
Around 300 INDIA bloc MPs marched from Parliament to the Election Commission on Tuesday demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resign over the SIR voter-roll revision; leaders were briefly detained.
Around 300 opposition MPs marched from Parliament's Makar Dwar towards the Election Commission headquarters on Ashoka Road on Tuesday, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Carrying a large Save Democracy banner, the INDIA bloc lawmakers raised slogans against the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, following a newspaper investigation that opposition parties say raised questions about large-scale changes to voter lists.
Heavy security was deployed around central Delhi. Barricades were erected, roads were closed and television footage showed personnel stationed outside the Commission's premises as protesters tried to reach the office.
Reports said opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, were briefly detained after being stopped at police barricades. Gandhi climbed onto a barricade and waved the national flag as slogans rose from the crowd.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge accused the Commission of acting in the government's interest and said the protest was to protect democratic institutions. The Commission has rejected charges of manipulation, saying the revision is meant to remove duplicate, deceased or ineligible entries.
The march is part of a wider campaign that includes district demonstrations and a planned rally in New Delhi. For the opposition, the question is no longer only about a list, but about whether citizens can trust that their names will still be on it when they go to vote.
Sources
Share this story
Related articles
Voter-roll protests expand as Election Commission defends revision
Demonstrations in Delhi and Mumbai, an NSUI symbolic protest, and a planned Rajouri march have turned a paperwork exercise into a fight over who gets to vote.
· 2 min read
Election Commission refuses to meet protesting MPs outside its office
The Election Commission said a meeting with protesting opposition MPs outside its premises could not be accepted, offering instead to receive their memorandum through its senior-most officer on duty after an eight-hour dharna in New Delhi.
· 2 min read
'Two kinds of voters': Prakash Raj says the roll revision is dividing citizens by their right to vote
Prakash Raj warned at Vijayapura that the SIR revision is dividing citizens into those with voting rights and those without, alleging weaker sections were hit hardest and demanding the exercise be scrapped.
· 2 min read
The Deletion Dividend: TVK Took 28 of the 32 Seats Where Over 50,000 Voters Were Struck Off
A constituency-by-constituency comparison of the SIR voter-roll purge with the 2026 results shows the TVK's victory rising in near-perfect step with the deletions: the deeper the cuts, the bigger its wins, including all ten seats where over 80,000 names vanished.
· 3 min read