EC office march: Delhi Police detain INDIA bloc MPs, including Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: Monday witnessed tense scenes as Delhi Police detained INDIA bloc MPs who were marching from Parliament to the Election Commission of India to protest the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar. 

A video from the spot shows Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi among those detained while raising what they called a protest against silent invisible rigging.

#WATCH | Delhi: Police detains INDIA bloc MPs, including Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Sanjay Raut, and Sagarika Ghose, among others, who were protesting against the SIR and staged a march from Parliament to the Election Commission of India. pic.twitter.com/9pfRxTNS49

— ANI (@ANI) August 11, 2025

The march began at Parliament’s Makar Dwar with the national anthem. MPs wore white caps marked with a red cross over the word SIR and carried placards that read vote chori. 

Police had placed barricades near Transport Bhawan on Parliament Street and used loudspeakers to ask the group not to proceed. The opposition leaders were stopped there and several were detained.

Mallikarjun Kharge, Sharad Pawar, Akhilesh Yadav, T R Baalu, Sanjay Raut, Derek O’Brien and other MPs from the Congress, DMK, RJD, Left and Trinamool Congress joined the march. TMC MPs Mahua Moitra and Sushmita Dev and Congress leaders Sanjana Jatav and Jothimani climbed the barricades and led slogans after police blocked the route. 

Banners at the protest read SIR plus vote theft equals murder of democracy and SIR Loktantra par vaar. Protesters also held placards that asked SIR par chuppi kyu and accused the poll body of siding with the government.

Opposition parties have pressed for a rollback of the Bihar voter roll exercise and demanded a discussion in both Houses. They allege the revision is designed to disenfranchise voters ahead of the assembly elections later this year. 

The Election Commission has denied the charge of vote theft. Parliament has seen frequent disruptions since the Monsoon session began on July 21, with minimal legislative business outside discussions on Operation Sindoor.

The INDIA bloc calls the Bihar SIR an opaque process that can be misused, using phrases like silent invisible rigging to underline their charge. 

The Commission insists the revision is a standard exercise meant to clean voter rolls. 

With Bihar polls approaching, every step in the revision process is under the microscope and every disruption inside Parliament feeds the political narrative outside it.