Opposition MPs Detained in India Election Chief Protest — SkimNews
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- Delhi police detained opposition MPs including Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka as they attempted to march to Election Commission headquarters demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation; the opposition said 237 MPs from multiple parties participated.
- Two sitting election commissioners — Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi — formally objected at least 14 times over a 10-month period to decisions and orders issued in the commission's name without their knowledge, according to an Indian Express investigation.
- The Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has removed more than 130 million names from draft voter lists since launching in Bihar in June 2025, with opposition parties alleging many eligible voters were wrongly excluded.
- Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge set 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 Election Commission to respond to a petition alleging Kumar exercised powers that belong to the commission collectively, indicating decisions taken without unanimous or majority approval could be set aside.
- The BJP condemned the protest as a "sponsored attempt" to bring about regime change through "anarchy," accusing opposition parties of seeking to undermine constitutional institutions.
Why it matters: The dispute has escalated from street protest to the Supreme Court, with justices signaling that Election Commission decisions made without collective approval could be invalidated. With 130 million names already purged from draft rolls and two sitting commissioners on record objecting 14 times to Kumar's unilateral orders, the institutional credibility of India's election body — and the legitimacy of voter lists feeding upcoming elections — is now an active constitutional question, not just opposition rhetoric.
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