India opposition leaders briefly detained in election protest

• Other lawmakers also detained but were released soon.
• BJP says opposition deliberately attacking democracy.
• Opposition demands transparency in voter rolls.

Indian police briefly detained opposition leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday during a protest march to demand the resignation of the country’s election chief over a large-scale revision of voter lists.

An AFPreporter saw Gandhi, a senior leader of the main opposition Congress Party, standing on a police barricade and waving the national flag.

Officers detained him along with other lawmakers but released them soon after.

The revision of voter lists has drawn criticism over alleged irregularities in the decision-making process, with opposition politicians accusing the election commission of acting at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Critics also say the drive has disproportionately affected marginalised and minority communities, especially Muslims.

The Election Commission of India has rejected allegations of wrongdoing, saying the revision process is aimed at ensuring the accuracy and integrity of electoral rolls.

On Tuesday, opposition members began a march from parliament towards the commission’s headquarters, but were stopped by a heavy police presence.

Gandhi and his lawmaker sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra later camped inside the public radio’s offices adjacent to the election commission.

“The country has been hijacked by Narendra Modi through vote theft,” Gandhi told reporters from behind the iron gates of the public radio building.

“What has been done to our country is called treason. Nobody is going to escape.”

Modi’s party has defended the drive.

“Some opposition parties, particularly the Congress, are making a concerted effort to change the government and install Rahul Gandhi in power,” party spokesman Sambit Patra told reporters Tuesday.

“They are deliberately attacking India’s democracy and constitutional institutions.”

‘It’s done, bro’

The protest is part of a wider campaign against revision of electoral rolls, reignited by a report last month by The Indian Express newspaper.

The report said that two of the election commission’s three members had formally objected at least 14 times to key decisions linked to the revision, and that the names of 130 million citizens had been deleted since the exercise began in 2025.

Protests began on Friday, demanding that commission chief Gyanesh Kumar step down.

“Gyanesh, it’s done, bro,” placards read at the protest on Tuesday, alongside signs alleging electoral manipulation.

Opposition leaders pressed their demands for greater transparency, alleging that changes to the voter rolls could disenfranchise eligible voters.

Kumar has not commented publicly.

The election commission says the revision exercise is intended to identify fraudulently registered voters and prevent “foreign illegal immigrants” from voting.

The youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), a satirical political movement that emerged online in May and succeeded in its campaign to oust the then education minister, has called for “mass mobilisation” in the capital on Saturday.

Major student groups aligned with left-wing parties have also said they would join Saturday’s protest.

India’s Supreme Court on Monday ordered the government and the election body to explain decisions linked to the revision exercise. Another hearing is expected to be held next week.