Rahul Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, described the actions taken against his party as “treason” after a protest march to the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday, October 6, 2026. The march, which began at 10:30 a.m. from Parliament’s Makar Dwar, demanded the scrapping of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the restoration of deleted voters and the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The banner carried by the leaders read, “Election Commission is compromised – Sack Gyanesh Kumar.”
The protest was halted by Delhi Police at 11 a.m., and the opposition MPs, including Rahul Gandhi, his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and Congress leaders from the Samajwadi, Trinamool, Shiv Sena, and Nationalist Congress parties, sat in a sit‑in at Akashvani Bhawan. Slogans such as “BJP hi CEC hai,” “Vote chor, gaddi chhod,” and “Democracy not for sale” were raised. For the first time, the Biju Janata Dal joined the INDIA bloc, and the protest drew 19 parties that had attended the September 30 INDIA bloc meeting.
Later that day, police forcibly removed Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, and other MPs, detaining them in a bus and taking them to Kingsway Camp police station. They were released at 10:15 p.m. The incident was followed by a brief entry of Congress members into Akashvani Bhawan, where senior opposition leaders called for the resignation of the CEC and accused the government of undermining democracy.
The protests come amid a broader opposition campaign over alleged irregularities in the SIR exercise. The Supreme Court had earlier observed that any process that “disenfranchises” millions of voters is “intrinsically arbitrary.” The BJP has criticised the march as an attempt to relaunch Rahul Gandhi and has defended the CEC, citing the court’s lack of approval for a modified Form 6. The opposition, however, maintains that the SIR is a tool for “vote chori” and demands accountability from the poll body.
