Rahul, other Oppn MPs face detention aspolice stop their march to EC headquarters

TMC's Mahua Moitra, Mitali Bag faint during protest, LoP comes to their rescue

PTI, NEW DELHI/CHENNAI, AUG 11, 2025 : Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Monday said the Opposition is protesting for the right to vote for every Indian and demanded a "clean and pure" voter list, asserting that the issue of alleged irregularities pointed out by him will "explode" soon, as it is not related to a single constituency but the whole country.

Indicating that he would not submit a signed affidavit as sought by the Election Commission, Rahul asserted that the data analyzed by the Congress to provide "proof" of "vote theft" is taken from the EC website. "This is their data. It is not my data that I should sign. It is their data only and has been taken from their website. This is only a move to distract," he told reporters.

The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, who participated in a protest march by the Opposition on the "vote theft" issue, said the Election Commission is "silent" as the truth is before the entire nation after his charge that over one lakh votes in an Assembly constituency in Karnataka were found to be fake in research conducted by his party.

"Another thing I want to tell is that this has not just happened in Bangalore, but in different constituencies across the country, and the Election Commission knows this. The EC knows that this data will explode. What it is trying to control and hide, we will bring it out, and it will explode. The EC knows this," he told reporters.

The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha was briefly detained along with others as police stopped the protest march by Opposition MPs from Parliament House to the EC office. "They (EC) cannot talk as the truth is before the entire nation," the Congress leader said as he was being taken away in a bus by the police.

"This fight is not political, but for saving the Constitution," he asserted. "This fight is for 'one man, one vote' and we want a clean, pure voter list," the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha added. He said all the MPs of the INDIA alliance were stopped and taken into custody when they were going to meet the Election Commission. "The truth of 'vote theft' is now before the country. This fight is not political; it is a fight to protect democracy, the Constitution, and the right to 'one person, one vote'. The united Opposition and every voter in the country demand a clean and transparent voter list. And, we will secure this right at all costs," Rahul claimed in a post on X later.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh on Monday alleged that democracy was being "assaulted and murdered" right outside Parliament, as Opposition MPs were stopped from taking out their protest march to the Election Commission headquarters. Ramesh said the Opposition MPs wanted to take out a peaceful march to the EC office as a mark of protest against the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar and 'vote chori', but were not allowed to move forward by the police.

"Our demand from the EC was very clear: all Opposition MPs are staging a peaceful march. At the end of the march, collectively, we wish to present a memorandum on SIR and other issues. We didn't ask for a delegation. The language was clear—collectively, all Opposition MPs would like to hand over a memorandum to the EC. Now we are not allowed to even reach Nirvachan Sadan; we are stopped at the PTI building. Right in front of Parliament, democracy is being assaulted, democracy is murdered. This is too clever, cheeky a reply by the ECI," he said.

"Chunav Aayog is Chunav Aayog; it cannot be 'churao aayog'," Ramesh told newspersons. MPs of various Opposition parties on Monday carried out a protest march from Parliament to the EC office but were prevented from moving forward and were stopped by the police. Police put up barricades outside the PTI building on the way to prevent the MPs from marching forward.

As the MPs were stopped, many of them sat on the road and raised slogans, while some women MPs, including saree-clad TMC's Mahua Moitra and Congress' Sanjana Jatav and Jothimani, climbed the barricades and raised slogans against the EC. They were later whisked away by police in buses lined up along the road and taken to the Parliament Street Police Station. MPs were later released. TMC's Moitra and Mitali Bag also fainted during the protest and were helped by Rahul.

Ramesh earlier wrote to the Election Commission to allow them to hold a meeting with them and discuss the SIR, among other issues.

Meanwhile, expressing solidarity with Rahul over his vote theft allegation, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Monday accused the BJP of turning the Election Commission into a "poll rigging machinery" and demanded a probe. Stalin said the DMK stands shoulder to shoulder in this fight. "We will not watch in silence while the BJP robs India's democracy in broad daylight," he said in a social media post.