INDIA Bloc MPs Gear Up for Another Protest Against CEC on October 8
The whole CEC row is heating up again, and the INDIA bloc isn’t letting it cool down for a second. After the big drama on Parliament Street and the sit-in near the Election Commission headquarters on Tuesday, they’re already planning the next round. Congress has called for nationwide protests on October 8, and the larger INDIA bloc is sticking to its “Save Democracy” programme that runs through that date. District-level marches and demonstrations are still on the cards, and MPs are expected to keep the pressure on Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. It all started building after that Indian Express investigation last month. The report said Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had put their objections on record at least 14 times in ten months. They were unhappy about decisions on adding and deleting voters, changes to Form 6, and the way the voter database was being handled. The opposition jumped on it, calling the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls a tool for “vote chori.” They want Kumar to resign, the SIR scrapped, deleted voters restored, and, in some cases, a return to paper ballots instead of EVMs. On September 30, leaders from 19 parties sat together for over three hours and finalised a plan. Mallikarjun Kharge announced “Save Democracy” marches in every district from October 2 to 8. MPs from both Houses were to march to the EC office on October 6. They also talked about meeting the President and filing cases in the Supreme Court against the 2023 law that gives the CEC and other commissioners certain protections. Tuesday’s protest was the first big street action. Rahul Gandhi led a few hundred MPs from Parliament towards Nirvachan Sadan. Akhilesh Yadav, Abhishek Banerjee, Supriya Sule, Sanjay Raut, and others walked with him. Police stopped them on Parliament Street. Things got noisy. Slogans like “Vote chor, gaddi chhod” and “Democracy not for sale” filled the air. Some leaders climbed barricades. Rahul even posted “Gyanesh, it’s done bro. Time to resign.” A group of Congress MPs, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, managed to enter the Akashvani Bhavan complex next door and sat there for hours. By evening, police detained Rahul, Priyanka, and several others. They were released later. Wednesday saw more of the same. Leaders met for lunch, then tried heading to Jantar Mantar in buses. Police stopped them again and detained a few more people. Rahul made it clear they won’t stop until Kumar resigns. “This is a fight to protect the most sacred thing in this country,” he said. “There is nothing that Narendra Modi and Amit Shah can do that will stop us.” Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal has now written to state units asking them to organise protests at state, district, and block levels on October 8. They’ve called October 7 a “Black Day for Indian Democracy” after the detentions. The district marches under the original plan are still supposed to continue through the 8th, so expect more local actions across the country tomorrow. BJP has been pushing back hard. Leaders say this is just frustration after electoral losses. They call the opposition’s claims baseless and say the Election Commission is doing its job of cleaning up the rolls. The Commission itself has maintained that decisions were unanimous and that the SIR is a necessary exercise after years without a full revision. They’ve also said no formal meeting request came from the opposition before the October 6 march. What’s interesting is that some parties outside the strict INDIA fold have joined in. BJD MPs walked with the protesters, saying their leader Naveen Patnaik directed them because of concerns over voter deletions in Odisha. AAP has also been seen at some of the actions. The opposition is trying to project a broader front on this one issue even if they don’t always agree on other things. The demands remain the same: Kumar must go, SIR must be rolled back, genuine voters who were struck off should be put back, and some want ballot papers for future elections. They’re also talking about approaching the President and pushing cases in court. Five big rallies are planned for October and November, including one in Delhi on November 1. For ordinary people watching this, the core worry is simple. If the voter list isn’t clean and transparent, faith in the whole process takes a hit. Both sides claim to be defending democracy. One side says the Commission is compromised and lists are being manipulated. The other says the revision is overdue and the opposition is just sore about results. Tomorrow’s protests will tell us how much steam the campaign still has. Local units are being told to hit the streets at every level. In Delhi, the conversation is already about the next steps after the two days of detentions. The INDIA bloc keeps saying this is not about one man but about the institution. The government and the Commission keep saying the process is fair and the protests are political theatre. Whatever happens on October 8, the row is far from over. The MPs who marched on Tuesday and Wednesday have made it clear they intend to keep showing up. The district programmes are still running. And the demand for Kumar’s resignation is not going away quietly. It’s a messy, noisy fight that has put the Election Commission right at the centre of the political battlefield again. Sources:Indian Express, The Hindu, Hindustan Times, The Print, Times of India, NDTV Profit, Outlook India, Frontline, The Diplomat, ANI reports. @Rohit Manral
Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi Detained After Hours-Long Sit-In Against CEC Gyanesh Kumar, Released Later
It was one of those days in the capital when the usual parliamentary noise spilled out onto the streets and stayed there for hours. Around 10:30 in the morning, Opposition MPs from the INDIA bloc gathered at Makar Dwar of Parliament House. They carried a simple banner that read “Election Commission is compromised – Sack Gyanesh Kumar.” Their plan was straightforward: walk a few hundred metres to Nirvachan Sadan, the Election Commission headquarters, and demand a meeting with Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. They never made it that far. Delhi Police had already put up layers of barricades near the NITI Aayog office on Parliament Street. The march was stopped. Some leaders sat down on the road. Rahul Gandhi and Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee climbed onto the iron barricades and waved the Tricolour. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was briefly put into a police bus, got down again, and joined her brother. Then, in a move that caught many by surprise, Rahul, Priyanka, K.C. Venugopal and a few other Congress MPs slipped into the compound of Akashvani Bhawan – the All India Radio building that sits just metres away from the Election Commission office. They sat under a tree. White mattresses appeared. Slogans against “vote chori” and the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls continued. Rahul kept repeating that all they wanted was to meet the three election commissioners – Gyanesh Kumar, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi – and hand over their demands: resignation of the CEC, scrapping of the SIR exercise, and restoration of deleted voter names. Hours passed. Police kept asking them to leave. Rahul told officers he was comfortable sitting there and would stay as long as needed. “We represent the voice of the nation. If representatives can’t meet the election commissioners, what’s the meaning of democracy?” he said at one point. Later he posted on X: “Gyanesh, it’s done bro. Time to resign.” By late afternoon the sit-in had stretched past eight hours. Around 7:50 in the evening, police moved in. They cleared the premises, forced the leaders into buses, and took them to New Police Lines at Kingsway Camp in north Delhi. Roughly 50 MPs and about 200-250 supporters were detained, according to police sources. Rahul resisted briefly and tried to climb out of a bus window. Priyanka was released first, then reportedly went back toward the area where her brother was being held before she too was let go. Rahul and the others walked free around 10:10-10:15 pm – roughly two hours after detention. Congress called the action heavy-handed. Priyanka said after her release, “The nation has never seen a coward government like this… Staging protest is our right.” Party leaders asked what the government was afraid of. The Opposition has been building pressure for weeks after reports that the two other Election Commissioners had recorded formal objections at least 14 times in ten months over decisions on voter rolls, Form 6 changes, centralisation of data and deletions in states like West Bengal. They allege the SIR process has led to large-scale deletions of genuine voters – figures of over 13 crore have been cited in political speeches – while the government and BJP call the charges baseless and accuse the Opposition of misleading the public. BJP spokespersons dismissed the protest as political theatre. Delhi Police said the MPs had entered Akashvani Bhawan without permission and that action was taken to maintain public order. The Election Commission later said it had received a meeting request late in the evening but the proposed venue did not match protocol. The protest is part of a wider campaign that began after the Indian Express report on internal dissent within the three-member Commission. Opposition parties have already staged nationwide demonstrations, burned effigies in some places, and spoken of moving a formal removal notice in Parliament. AAP and DMK stayed away from Tuesday’s march, while Biju Janata Dal MPs joined. By Wednesday morning the leaders were free, the streets were clear again, and both sides were preparing for the next round. The INDIA bloc has signalled it will continue pressing the same three demands. The government and the Commission maintain that the electoral process remains independent and that the revision exercise is being carried out as per law. What happened on Tuesday was not a quiet petition. It was a public standoff that lasted nearly nine hours, ended with detentions, and left the core questions about the Election Commission’s functioning still hanging in the air. Sources:The Hindu (live updates and reports, 6-7 October 2026)Telegraph India (7 October 2026)India Today (6 October 2026)Indian Express (6 October 2026)News18, Rediff, Statesman, PTI inputs and police statements as reported across outlets. @Rohit Manral