The Delhi Police on Monday said it has detained more than 30 opposition MPs who were holding a march to the EC office against the ongoing special intensive revision of electoral rolls. The detained MPs include Congress’ Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut and TMC’s Sagarika Ghose, while Akhilesh Yadav was seen jumping over a barricade.
Chaos broke out during the INDIA bloc’s protest march, as Delhi Police stopped the leaders near Parliament. Police said the opposition leaders were detained and taken to Parliament Street Police Station as only the Election Commission had only given permission to 30 MPs to enter its premises but the protesters were in “large numbers”.
More than 300 MPs from 25 Opposition parties participated in this march led by Congress started marching from the Parliament to the Election Commission’s office to mark their protest over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar and allegations of “voter chori” (vote theft) during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
However, the Delhi Police said that no permission has been sought so far for the proposed march by the INDIA bloc leaders. Earlier on Thursday, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi made explosive claims of a “huge criminal fraud” in polls through collusion between the BJP and the EC, as he cited an analysis in a constituency in Karnataka and said it was “a crime against the Constitution”.
Leader of Opposition and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said, “The Election Commission knows its data will explode. We will expose whatever they are trying to hide.” Referring to the notices received from the Election Commission, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that it is the poll body’s data, not his, that he will sign (an affidavit).
“It is their (Election Commission) data. It is not my data that I will sign (an affidavit)… Put that data on your website and you will get to know it. All this is just to distract from the issue. This has not just taken place in Bengaluru but several other constituencies too,” he said.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said that for 14 days, the opposition has been disrupting the House in a planned manner, and that this was not as per democratic procedures and leads to loss of crores of rupees. He said that the nation was watching the disruption, and requested members to let the House function, adding that he would give time for important discussions.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju deplored, “In Monsoon Session, the Congress, Opposition parties have wasted a lot of time. But we will not let it happen, the government wants to pass a few important Bills in both the Houses. Due to the mindlessness of a person, because of a family, the country cannot suffer… Many Opposition MPs have also shown helplessness…”