Around 260 Opposition Leaders, Including Rahul Gandhi, Detained During March to Election Commission

Delhi Police on Tuesday, 6 October 2026, detained around 260 opposition leaders and workers, among them Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Akhilesh Yadav, as they marched from Parliament towards the office of the Election Commission of India. They were released after about two hours.

What happened

Members of Parliament from the INDIA bloc set out from Parliament to demand the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, over what they allege are irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, the exercise in which voter lists are being re-verified.

Police stopped the march on Parliament Street, roughly half a kilometre from the Commission’s headquarters, and took the leaders by bus to the Parliament Street police station. Those detained included the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi; Priyanka Gandhi Vadra; the Samajwadi Party chief, Akhilesh Yadav; and the Trinamool Congress leaders Abhishek Banerjee and Derek O’Brien.

Reports differ on the numbers. The Quint put participation at 237 MPs from 19 parties, while the Daily Jagran reported about 300 MPs and around 260 people detained.

What each side said

• The opposition says the revision is removing genuine voters from the rolls, a charge it describes as “vote chori” (vote theft). Rahul Gandhi said he wanted to meet the Chief Election Commissioner to put that charge to him directly. The Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut asked why such a large force was needed to stop elected MPs.
• Delhi Police said the march did not have permission and that the leaders were detained to maintain law and order. About 4,000 police and paramilitary personnel were deployed, and prohibitory orders were in force in the New Delhi district.
• The Election Commission said it had not received a formal request for a meeting until late in the day and that the proposed manner of the meeting was unusual. It has maintained that decisions on the revision were taken unanimously and has rejected the allegations.

Who stayed away

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Aam Aadmi Party did not take part, according to The Quint, while the Biju Janata Dal, which is not a member of the INDIA bloc, joined the protest.

What next

Parliament was adjourned sine die the same day. Student organisations have announced a further march to Jantar Mantar on 10 October on the same demands.

This report is based on accounts published by The Quint and the Daily Jagran. The allegations about the revision of the rolls are contested, and the Election Commission denies them.

Image: Parliament House in New Delhi, from where the opposition march set out (file photo). Photo by Nikhilb239, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.