Indian opposition leader and member of the Indian National Congress (INC) Rahul Gandhi was arrested by police during a protest against alleged voter fraud while marching towards Election Commission of India’s (ECI) office on Monday.
Apart from Rahul and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the New Delhi Police detained several opposition members of parliament (MPs).
“This fight is not political… it is to save the Constitution. The fight is for ‘one person, one vote’,” NDTV reported Rahul as saying while being shifted by the police.
Confirming the opposition leaders’ detention, Joint Commissioner of Police Deepak Purohit said that the politicians had been taken to a nearby police station.
The police officer, citing reasons behind their detention, said that the opposition lacked the necessary permission to hold a protest of such scale and that only 30 MPs were allowed to march towards the ECI office and lodge a complaint.
Purohit’s remarks come after the INC-led Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) commenced a march towards the ECI office.
The political turmoil in New Delhi relates to Rahul’s renewed allegations against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the ECI that they conspired to rig elections and engaged in vote manipulation.
Last week, during an opposition huddle, Rahul said that a “huge criminal fraud” had occurred during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
He cited a survey in Karnataka that, according to him, revealed six key irregularities: multiple entries for the same voter, duplicate registrations across states, false addresses, clusters of bulk voters at single residences, unclear photographs on voter IDs and misuse of Form 6, which is used for enrolling first-time voters.
The politician also accused the poll body of crafting a “choreographed schedule” for state assembly elections in collusion with the BJP and claimed that the ECI refused to share digital versions of voter rolls.
The ECI responded strongly to the allegations, calling them an “absurd analysis” and urged the Congress leader to back his claims with a formal declaration under oath.
