The Opposition on Tuesday attempted to ratchet up pressure on chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to resign with an unprecedented protest in central Delhi that lasted nine hours, drawing furious responses from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
At least 300 lawmakers from the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) marched from Parliament to the Election Commission of India (ECI), demanding Kumar’s resignation. When police stopped them outside Nirvachan Sadan, more than 250 Opposition members were detained. However, after a brief standoff, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra , along with 20 others, walked into the Akashvani Bhavan campus next door and continued their protest till about 8pm. The ECI said that at 4pm, the police informed the poll body that 240 MPs want to meet the election commissioner at Parliament House annexe.
The Election Commission of India in a statement said that no political party had sought an appointment till 4pm to meet the authorities. “The commission considered the request as unusual and therefore, could not be accepted,” the poll body said in a statement. The election commission said it was ready to send its senior official to collect the memorandum from the protesting leaders, but the MPs did not agree to it.
The show of strength – which included the Biju Janata Dal, once friendly to the BJP, and the INDIA bloc’s estranged member Aam Aadmi Party – is part of the Opposition’s plan to mount pressure on Kumar over the controversial special intensive revision and other allegations. It also alleged that election officials found their access to the ECI software curtailed by the central IT team. “Gyanesh, it’s done, bro. We represent crores of Indians. – Why aren’t the election commissioners meeting us? Why is the police stopping and threatening us? Authorities had cordoned off roads in a diameter of roughly two kilometres around ECI on Ashoka Road since 8am. The INDIA group has also sought time from President Droupadi Murmu to meet her over SIR-related issues. Notably, BJD joined the protest.
The developments come after an Indian Express investigation said election commissioners SS Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had recorded written dissents and objections at least 14 times between November 2025 and August 2026 and even written to the cabinet secretary. The march began at 10.45am from Parliament, attended by 23 parties. Time to resign,” Rahul Gandhi said in a post on X at 11.05am. Later he said, “More than 300 Opposition MPs marched from Parliament to the Election Commission today to meet the election commissioners. The march reached Akashvani Bhavan at around 11.05am, when huge barricades and police stopped them. More than 200 leaders – including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav – were detained by the police and taken away. In August 2025, Opposition leaders had taken out a similar march to hand over a memorandum to ECI against SIR.
ECI said differing views and observations were a normal part of deliberation and that all its digital platforms operated under strict data security protocols. The march started as a collective protest, but Rahul Gandhi’s decision not to be driven away by the police and stage a second stir at Akashvani Bhawan put the spotlight on his role as the LoP, according to several Opposition MPs. The party’s parliamentary party leader in the Rajya Sabha, Manas Mangaraj, said the decision was taken at the direction of party president Naveen Patnaik. “As directed by our party president Patnaik, our MPs will participate in the protest march,” Mangaraj said.
