The protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar will not stop until he resigns over alleged vote chori (theft), Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said on Wednesday (October 7, 2026), after the Delhi Police detained him and other Opposition leaders for the second day in a row while on their way to Jantar Mantar for a dharna.
Mr. Gandhi, who has stressed a “politics of resistance”, his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other Opposition leaders staged an impromptu dharna at a roundabout barely a couple of hundred metres from Jantar Mantar, a designated protest site in central Delhi.
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“We are not going to stop protesting till [CEC] Gyanesh Kumar resigns. This is a fight to protect the most sacred thing in this country. There is nothing that Narendra Modi and Amit Shah can do that will stop us,” Mr. Gandhi said.
There were dramatic scenes during the three-hour-long bus procession and the subsequent impromptu sit-in at the roundabout in front of the Le Meridien and Shangri-La hotels, as the Opposition MPs were stopped by security personnel. A visual of Ms. Vadra lying on her back on the street, clutching a copy of the Constitution, went viral on social media.
Security personnel detain Congress party’s member of Parliament Priyanka Gandhi Vadra during a protest by the opposition alliance INDIA bloc (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) in New Delhi on October 7, 2026
| Photo Credit:
AFP
Delhi Police personnel first forcibly removed Mr. Gandhi, carrying him on their shoulders, and put him inside a police van. “This is all panic reaction, this is all fear,” Mr. Gandhi said while sitting inside the van after his detention. As Congress workers punctured one of the van’s tyres, it could travel only a short distance. Mr. Gandhi was taken to the Barakhamba Road police station and released by 8 p.m.
A large contingent of women police personnel then removed Ms. Vadra and other women leaders who were lying on the road in protest.
“This is how they treat Members of Parliament who are asking simply to meet the Election Commissioners. This is how they treat us. They are beating Members of Parliament. Their policemen have scratched me all over,” Ms. Vadra alleged.
The police had stopped the buses carrying Opposition MPs, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal, at the roundabout near the Le Meridien and Shangri-La hotels.
Leaders of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), however, are likely to continue with the protests on Thursday as well, top Congress leaders indicated.
“To save the Constitution and democracy, the Congress Party and the Opposition are ready to take to the streets as many times as needed, face arrests, or endure legal cases,” the Congress president said in a post on X.
“Arresting LOP @RahulGandhi ji has become a hobby for this fascist regime. We are watching the total destruction of Indian democracy in real time. These criminals in Delhi Police uniform will pay a heavy price for how they have manhandled Rahul ji and priyankagandhi ji,” Mr. Venugopal said, adding that the Opposition would return “day after day until vote chors [thieves] are brought to justice”.
Earlier in the day, the Delhi Police had registered a first information report (FIR) against Mr. Gandhi, Ms. Vadra and others for staging a dharnainside the premises of Akashvani Bhavan.
Mr. Gandhi called the FIR a “medal” on his chest and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat and Mr. Kumar could “do all this stuff”, “but we are going to bring them to justice”.
“My guarantee [is] that all four of them will be brought to justice,” Mr. Gandhi said, adding, “They have attacked the most sacred thing in this country. They have attacked the Constitution, they have attacked the voice of the people and they are going to pay for this.”
The unannounced protests began after Mr. Kharge hosted leaders of the INDIA bloc for lunch at Sagar Ratna, an vegetarian South Indian restaurant.
Samajwadi Party (SP) members, however, were conspicuous by their absence. The Congress played down their absence, saying the invitation had been sent at short notice and some parties could not respond.
Several other Opposition MPs, including CPI(M)’s John Brittas, CPI’s P. Sandosh Kumar, RJD’s Manoj Jha, TMC’s Derek O’Brien and Mahua Moitra, and Congress Chief Whip Kodikunnil Suresh, were part of the protests.
The Congress’s official X handle posted a picture of Ms. Moitra with bruises on her face and palms. “The brutal handling of elected representatives by the police shows the utter contempt of the poisonous pair of PM-HM for our Constitution and democracy. This is the reality of the ‘We Will Do It’ proclaimed by the ‘Slogan Sultan’ today,” Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.
Published – October 07, 2026 10:58 pm IST
