The Pulse | Politics | South Asia

As Tide Turns Against Modi, More Parties Back INDIA Bloc Protests

Police detained scores of opposition lawmakers, who held a sit-in to press their demand for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi holds up the Indian national flag while standing on a metal barricade put up by Delhi police to prevent the INDIA bloc’s march to the headquarters of the Election Commission of India in New Delhi, India, Oct. 6, 2026.

Police detained scores of opposition lawmakers, including Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, his sister and Congress parliamentarian Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, on the evening of October 6, in a bid to clear the INDIA bloc of opposition parties’ sit-in protest at Akashvani Bhavan in New Delhi.

Delhi Police subsequently registered complaints against the detained opposition parliamentarians for entering a government building without permission.

The detention of the leaders came at the end of a day of protests called by the INDIA bloc, which is demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. They accuse Kumar of vote chori (stealing votes) by overseeing an electoral process that has benefited Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The call for Kumar’s resignation gathered momentum after an investigative report in The Indian Express revealed that Kumar made unilateral decisions and issued orders despite two other election commissioners raising objections “at least 14 times over the last 10 months” to issues relating to the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls.

At a meeting on September 30, leaders of the INDIA bloc decided on a schedule of protests to press their demand for Kumar’s resignation. The October 6 march was the first of several planned demonstrations in the coming weeks.

The plan was to march from parliament to the Election Commission building. However, legislators were blocked by police and barricades from reaching the planned destination. It did seem initially that the Modi government had scored an early victory against the opposition.

However, the Gandhi siblings quickly changed the plan and headed to Akashvani Bhavan, located adjacent to the Election Commission building, and continued their sit-in protest there.

The march saw the participation of most of the INDIA bloc’s constituents. However, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) stayed away. While the DMK is miffed with Gandhi for aligning with its rival, the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, to form the government in Tamil Nadu, the AAP’s decision seems motivated by factors that are more complex and controversial.

The Congress party has long suspected the AAP of being the “BJP’s B-team” – that is, it believes the AAP’s electoral strategy of opposing the Congress strengthens the BJP.

Interestingly, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which led the Jantar Mantar protests in July, did not participate in the INDIA-led march on October 6, although it too has called for Kumar’s resignation. Indeed, its leaders were quiet on social media through much of the day’s dramatic events, posting mild support only later, as criticism of their silence mounted on social media.

The CJP is widely believed to be close to the AAP. Of the 12 members of its core team, six – including its leaders Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das,........

© The Diplomat