Indian Opposition MPs Detained at Election Commission Protest — SkimNews
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Delhi Police detained opposition MPs including Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka during a march demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation; the lawmakers were released shortly after and resumed their protest near Election Commission headquarters.
- The opposition said 237 MPs from multiple parties joined the march, the latest flashpoint in a dispute over the Election Commission's nationwide voter roll revision.
- The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) began in Bihar in June 2025 and has removed more than 130 million names from draft voter lists; opposition parties allege many eligible voters have been wrongly excluded.
- An Indian Express investigation found election commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi formally objected at least 14 times over 10 months to decisions they said were issued in the commission's name without their knowledge.
- Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge named three "non-negotiable" demands: Kumar's resignation, cancellation of the SIR exercise, and a return to paper ballot voting.
- India's Supreme Court has asked the federal government and the Election Commission to respond to a petition alleging Kumar took key decisions without the other commissioners' approval, though it declined to suspend him.
- The satirical Gen Z-backed Cockroach Janta Party held protests in Mumbai and Delhi four days before the MPs' march and has called another round of demonstrations for 10 October.
Why it matters: Two of its own election commissioners formally objected 14 times to decisions issued in the commission's name, 130 million voters have been cut from draft rolls, and 237 opposition MPs marched on the Election Commission. With the Supreme Court demanding responses from both the federal government and the poll body, the commission's authority over upcoming elections is now in formal legal jeopardy.
Ask SkimNews
