New Delhi: Opposition MPs including leaders of opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha – Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi – were detained by Delhi Police today (August 11) after they were stopped during their protest march against the ‘special intensive revision’ of the voter rolls in Bihar. They were released later in the afternoon.As many as 300 opposition parliamentarians who wore caps and carried banners against the SIR were scheduled to march from the parliament building to the office of the Election Commission of India. They were stopped by police barricades near Transport Bhawan, where they staged a sit-in protest.Security personnel keep vigil as opposition INDIA bloc MPs hold a protest march from Makar Dwar of Parliament to the Election Commission in New Delhi, Monday, Aug. 11, 2025. Photo: PTISamajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, and several Trinamool Congress MPs including Mahua Moitra and Sushmita Dev were seen climbing barricades that the police had placed to stop the march. “They are stopping votes, we are jumping barricades to save the people’s right to vote. So that the Election Commission takes action against those whose names have been excluded. I have myself given the list of 18,000 deleted votes. The ECI asked for affidavit, we gave it. They did not take action,” said Yadav.“They (Election Commission) do not want to talk. The truth is in front of the country. This fight is not political – it is a fight to protect democracy and the Constitution, and the right to ‘one person, one vote.’ This is why we want a clean and transparent voter list,” said Gandhi to reporters from one of the buses.The MPs were then detained and taken in buses to Parliament Street police station, from where they were released after 2 pm.Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, TMC MP Sagarika Ghose with others during a protest march by INDIA bloc MPs in New Delhi, Monday, Aug. 11, 2025. Photo: PTI.Earlier on Sunday, the Election Commission wrote to Congress MP and general secretary media and communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh and said “due to limitation of space” names of 30 members including vehicle numbers be given for the meeting today. Ramesh had written to the commission saying that all opposition MPs will be conducting a march to the Election Commission’s office and all MPs wanted to collectively meet the poll body on a range of issues not limited to the Bihar SIR.“Our demand, our request was very clear, all the Opposition MPs are staging a peaceful march, at the end of the march, collectively, we wish to present a memorandum on SIR, other issues, we didn’t ask for delegation. The language was clear- collectively all opposition MPs wanted to hand over a memorandum. Now we are not allowed to even reach Nirvachan Sadan. Right in front of the Parliament, democracy is being assaulted, murdered,” said Ramesh to reporters today.The march saw top leaders of the opposition in attendance including NCP(SCP) chief Sharad Pawar, DMK MP T. R. Baalu, Sanjay Raut (SS-UBT), Derek O’Brien (TMC), Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, along with other MPs from INDIA bloc parties like the DMK, the RJD, and Left parties.“If the government doesn’t allow us to reach the Election Commission, then we don’t understand what they are afraid of? This is a peaceful demonstration,” said Kharge.“This was a march by VVIPs, so there was no chance of any untoward incident. They could have made all 300 of us sit in a hall and listen to us. They wanted us to send 30 members. How can we choose which of our alliance partners should go? If they met us in the hall, we would have placed our concerns before them.”When the opposition members returned to parliament, Kharge raised the issue of the MPs being stopped from going to the Election Commission.“All MPs from the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were going to meet the Election Commission but we were stopped and not allowed to meet them,” he said, amid loud protests from the treasury benches.Leader of the house J.P. Nadda then rose from his seat and said that since the discussion was on the Manipur budget, “nothing else should go on record”, which was accepted by BJD MP Sasmit Patra who was on officiating as the chair.Meanwhile, outside parliament, Union minister and BJP MP Piyush Goyal said that it had become clear that the opposition does not want any discussion.“Today, it became clear that opposition, along with Rahul Gandhi, doesn’t want a discussion in parliament, (they) don’t want to allow the Election Commission to perform their constitutional duties. They are not against the SIR, but they want the illegal migrants to vote. To conceal their lies, and theft they are doing this drama. The Election Commission with due respect said that the conference room has a capacity of 35, and called 30 MPs from all parties. But they could not even not select the 30 MPs who would go to the Election Commission,” he said.