Rahul Gandhi and other lawmakers were detained during a protest near the Election Commission and released late Tuesday.
India’s opposition leader in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, and lawmakers from several parties held a sit-in near the All India Radio headquarters after police stopped their march toward the Election Commission. The opposition demanded that the commission scrap its Special Intensive Revision of voter rolls, restore deleted names and remove Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The march began near Parliament at about 10:30 a.m. on October 6 and was stopped by police near the commission around 11 a.m. Gandhi, his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other lawmakers continued the protest at Akashvani Bhawan, the nearby All India Radio headquarters. Police later detained several leaders and took them away by bus; they were released at about 10:15 p.m.
Representatives of most parties in the INDIA opposition bloc took part, and the Biju Janata Dal joined for the first time. The Hindu said the Aam Aadmi Party and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam stayed away. Gandhi and other opposition leaders accused the Election Commission of an unfair voter-roll revision. The commission and government deny wrongdoing.
All India Radio reported that the commission had received no meeting request from a political party by 4 p.m.; police later informed it that a delegation of lawmakers wanted to submit a memorandum. The opposition bloc said it would stage another protest on Wednesday.