Political

Rahul Gandhi detained after 8-hour standoff during INDIA bloc march against CEC

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An INDIA bloc march towards the Election Commission’s headquarters, Nirvachan Sadan, in New Delhi on Tuesday, 6 October 2026, ended with Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi detained along with Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and several other opposition MPs. They were demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Sit-in at Akashvani Bhavan

Police stopped the marchers near Akashvani Bhavan, next to the poll body’s office, The Indian Express reported. Gandhi climbed the barricades and was detained, but he, Vadra and some Congress MPs then entered the Akashvani Bhavan premises and staged a sit-in. The standoff ended about eight hours later, when the leaders were detained and taken to the Kingsway Camp police facility.

“All I want to do is meet the Chief Election Commissioner and tell him that he has done ‘vote chori’,” Gandhi said. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee, NCP (SP)’s Supriya Sule, RJD’s Manoj Kumar Jha and CPI(M)’s John Brittas joined the march. The BJD sent two MPs, while the DMK stayed away.

BJP calls it political drama

At a late-evening press conference, BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi called the protest a “political drama” and accused the Congress of lying. Citing an Election Commission statement, he said the poll body had received no meeting request from any INDIA bloc party. According to the Commission, Delhi Police told it around 4 pm that MPs led by Gandhi wanted to meet it; it offered to send its senior-most officer on duty to receive a memorandum, but the offer was declined, The Hindu reported.

Trivedi also linked the sit-in to the Emergency, saying Indira Gandhi had announced it from Akashvani.

Strain inside the alliance

The day also exposed friction in the opposition camp. Some Congress allies felt “mistreated” because the Gandhi siblings stayed back for the sit-in after other MPs had been taken away in buses. Congress leader K.C. Venugopal later told allies that the party leadership had acted on the spur of the moment and regretted the mistrust it caused, according to the Indian Express.

A Left MP questioned the demand for a meeting itself. “Why would we meet the ECI when we are demanding the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar?” the MP said.

Source: The Indian Express, The Hindu

Photo: Pinakpani / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (resized)

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