Key points
- Rahul Gandhi and opposition leaders detained in Delhi protest
- Protest held against alleged voter list fraud by BJP and Election Commission
- Gandhi says fight is to protect fair voting rights
- Bihar voter list revision faces Supreme Court challenge
ISLAMABAD: Senior leaders of India’s opposition, including Rahul Gandhi, were detained in Delhi during a protest march to the Election Commission. The Congress-led INDIA bloc organised the rally to challenge alleged voter fraud and what they call collusion between the poll body and the ruling BJP.
The INDIA bloc began the day with a protest march to the Election Commission’s office, which is about a kilometre from the Parliament building.
Delhi Police detained senior opposition MPs, including the Congress’ Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut, Monday morning as their protests over the Election Commission’s “collusion” with the ruling BJP spilled over into the streets of central Delhi, according to NDTV.
“One person, one vote”
As Mr Gandhi and his colleagues were bussed away, he told reporters climbing over each to get a quote, “This fight is not political… it is to save the Constitution. The fight is for ‘one person, one vote’.”
The truth about vote chori is now out in the open.
This fight is not political; it’s a fight to safeguard the Constitution.
It’s a fight for the fundamental principle of one person, one vote, and we need a clean, transparent voter list to ensure its integrity.
: LoP Shri… pic.twitter.com/JvmGkbZXDL
— Congress (@INCIndia) August 11, 2025
“The reality is they cannot talk… the truth is in front of the country,” he declared.
Joint Commissioner of Police Deepak Purohit confirmed the detention but declined to give a number, telling reporters, “Detained INDIA bloc leaders have been taken to a nearby police station.”
Mr Purohit said the opposition did not have police permission for a protest of this scale, and that only a group of 30 MPs had been allowed to march to the Election Commission and submit a complaint.
“The Election Commission said 30 MPs could visit them… but over 200 came marching. We stopped them to prevent any breakdown of law-and-order. They were then detained. Some MPs tried jumping barricades.. they were also detained,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Devesh Kumar Mahla said.
Congress President Shri @kharge is arbitrarily detained by the police for peacefully protesting against the brazen vote chori by BJP and EC.
This is a stark reminder of the Modi government’s desperation to silence dissent.
But we won’t be intimidated.
We will continue to… pic.twitter.com/6ya5Bsfb2R
— Congress (@INCIndia) August 11, 2025
Visuals from the protest site outside the Parliament building showed a small army of politicians and party workers, many waving placards, shouting slogans, and pushing back against police barricades.
Houses adjourned
Another visual showed Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav climbing over two police barricades.
#WATCH | Delhi: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav jumped over a police barricade as Delhi Police stopped INDIA bloc leaders marching from the Parliament to the Election Commission of India to protest against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound… pic.twitter.com/ddHMdwWPqs
— ANI (@ANI) August 11, 2025
And there was yet more drama after the Trinamool said two MPs, including Mahua Moitra, fainted.
#WATCH | Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi and others help TMC MP Mitali Bagh, who fainted during the opposition protest and the resulting detention by the police. pic.twitter.com/5Rpw67O8P2
— ANI (@ANI) August 11, 2025
Both Houses were adjourned till 2 pm.
BJP’s “voter fraud”
The opposition is protesting voter fraud committed by the ruling BJP and Election Commission.
The allegations have been bubbling over since last year’s Maharashtra election.
The opposition bloc (i.e., the Congress and the Shiv Sena and NCP factions led by Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar) have accused the EC of manipulating voter lists to ensure a BJP victory.
The opposition has pointed to apparent discrepancies, like an unusually large number of new voters just six months after the federal election in the state, which the BJP lost.
Similar allegations have been made about the Lok Sabha election in Karnataka too.
Last week Rahul Gandhi fired up PowerPoint presentations at meetings of the INDIA bloc.
He presented data to back his claim of widespread voter fraud and repeated his demand – that the poll panel release a searchable draft of voter lists, so the opposition can check for errors.
“Revision” of Bihar voter list
The opposition’s protests have also been fuelled by the “special intensive revision” of the Bihar voter list, an exercise ordered by the Election Commission months before polls in that state.
The voter list revision has been challenged in the Supreme Court.
Petitioners have said it is illegal.
Additionally, questions were also raised about the EC rejecting common government IDs, like the Aadhaar or even its own identity card, for voter re-verification purposes.
The court, however, allowed the SIR to continue but directed the EC to ensure genuine voters are not excluded, and those who have been – around 6.5 million – get time to appeal the exclusion, according to NDTV.
