New Delhi: Delhi police detained opposition leaders including Lok Sabha leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi and MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, as they attempted to continue their sit-in protest at the All India Radio (AIR) building adjacent to Nirvachan Sadan, where police interrupted their march from parliament.As night fell on Tuesday, October 6, opposition parties had refused to vacate the protest site until they were allowed to meet Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and hand over their demand for his resignation.Meanwhile police also tried to evict mediapersons covering the protest even as INDIA bloc members continued their protest before the authorities ended it late in the evening. Police had earlier said the sit-in at would not be allowed to continue overnight.The INDIA bloc started its march from parliament on Tuesday before noon, walking towards the Election Commission, when they were prevented from going beyond the AIR building adjacent to the poll body’s office. Layers of barricades and hundreds of Delhi police personnel blocked their way.Around seven hours after LoP Gandhi started a sit-in at the AIR building, alongside dozens of party leaders including Rajya Sabha LoP Mallikarjun Kharge, Vadra, former Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi and MP Deepender Hooda, the police stepped in to detain a number of leaders.Visuals from the site show a crowd of police officers restraining Gandhi and stuffing him into a bus. Vadra too was seen being placed into a van by police personnel, and party MP K.C. Venugopal was also reportedly detained.ये मत समझना भूल जाएंगेवक्त बदलेगा-हिसाब होगा https://t.co/Xh53kO7xlE— Congress (@INCIndia) October 6, 2026Gandhi and other MPs were taken to the Kingsway police camp in northwestern Delhi, the Congress said. The party shared a video of Vadra at the camp, saying she “arrived there and herself climbed onto the gate to unlock it”. Overall 50 MPs among some 250 individuals were picked up on Tuesday evening, PTI cited the police as saying.The LoP was released from the Kingsway police camp not long after 10 pm.‘No party made appointment for meeting’, says ECFor its part, the Election Commission said it learnt of the opposition MPs’ march from the Delhi police at around 4 pm and that no party had reached out to it before that seeking an appointment for a meeting.The INDIA bloc had announced last Wednesday, September 30, that opposition MPs would march to the Election Commission’s office today, October 6.In a communique on Tuesday the poll panel said it was also informed by the Delhi police that the opposition MPs wished to meet the commission at the Parliament House Annexe. However it “considered this request as unusual” as it only meets party representatives at its office in Nirvachan Sadan, and as a result could not accept this, it added.Even when it made the “unprecedented” offer of sending its senior-most officer on duty to the Annexe to receive the opposition leaders’ memorandum, the MPs rejected this overture, the Commission claimed. The poll body “respects the parliamentary and democratic processes of the country, as well as its own protocols and conventions, which are of utmost importance”, and parties are free to make appointments for meetings, it said.‘My democratic right to protest’Earlier on Tuesday, Gandhi had said the EC ‘insulted’ the county by not meeting the opposition MPs.“You can take it from me in writing: We will meet the Election Commissioner, and he will have to meet us. MPs are the voice of the country, and they have been insulted,” said Gandhi, who was earlier seen talking to senior police officers who wanted him to leave and “go home”.“You cannot ask an MP to go to his house. It is my democratic right to protest,” Gandhi told the police officer.AIR employees are all out as LOP Rahul Gandhi and MP Priyanka Gandhi sit on dharna at the Aakashvani office after being blocked from marching to ECI office.Aakashvani and ECI buildings are next to each other but Delhi Police has deployed thousands of policemen to stop the INDIA alliance march.— Srivatsa (@srivatsayb) October 6, 2026After the CEC refused to open its doors to the opposition leaders, they entered the AIR building and a while later, carpets and white sheets to sit on were brought too, as the leaders said their dharna would continue indefinitely.Late in the afternoon, leaders were seen raising slogans at the AIR building, with women participating in large numbers, along with Kharge and other senior functionaries.वोट चोर, गद्दी छोड़ https://t.co/Qzb48EbSRu— Supriya Shrinate (@SupriyaShrinate) October 6, 2026“If there had not been vote chori, he would have agreed to meet us in a minute,” Gandhi said on being prevented from meeting the CEC.“If EC Hadn’t Done Vote Chori, They Would Agree to Meet Us”: LoP Rahul Gandhi#VoteChori #Delhi #India https://t.co/6LF9gmfP3H— The Wire (@thewire_in) October 6, 2026The INDIA bloc MPs and leaders including Gandhi and Vadra were initially stopped by security personnel in front of the NITI Aayog office. Congress workers were detained outside the AIR building and Youth Congress activists too were picked up.Congress MP and former Union minister Jairam Ramesh said at Jantar Mantar in the afternoon, “This was supposed to be a peaceful march by the INDIA bloc to the Election Commission. I think they are now going to take us wherever they are going to take us.”The Delhi police has been taking protesters away to unknown locations for the last few days. Reports now say the government blocked internet access at Jantar Mantar and around when protests against the CEC began last week.Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee and Samajwadi Party MP Dharmendra Yadav and others were on the roads leading up to the EC’s offices on Tuesday. Venugopal was at the makeshift AIR venue. Senior Congress leaders and MPs Pawan Khera and Imran Pratapgarhi were also seen.Scenes Outside ECI Office Amid INDIA Bloc MPs Protest Against CEC Gyanesh Kumar@SravastiDasgup2 reports for The Wire https://t.co/Gkkoteh7wL— The Wire (@thewire_in) October 6, 2026The MPs say that they have a democratic right to meet the Election Commission, which oversees Lok Sabha and state elections. Being denied an appointment with the CEC puts democracy at risk, said Congress leaders.“Democracy has been finished in the country – rule by the constitution will also be finished,” said Kharge, soon after the opposition march was prevented from proceeding.“People will be reduced to slavery,” Kharge warned. “People who have struggled for their freedom will once again be enslaved, and that is why the INDIA bloc has resolved to struggle against this,” he said.INDIA Bloc MPs marched from Parliament to the Election Commission, raising strong demands for accountability and transparency in the electoral process. 1/2#VoteChori #ECI #Delhi #INDIA https://t.co/MN10oKRWLY— The Wire (@thewire_in) October 6, 2026Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and others at a sit in outside All India Radio on Tuesday, October 6, 2026. Photo: AICC on XLoP Rahul Gandhi, MP Priyanka Gandhi and other Congress MPs continued to sit outside Akashvani Bhavan amid a heavy security presence. @SravastiDasgup2 reports for The Wire.#VoteChori #Delhi #India https://t.co/FBRNZqOkqG— The Wire (@thewire_in) October 6, 2026The MPs say their primary demand is for accountability and transparency in the election process. They are demanding answers for the shrinking of the country’s voter lists.“We will not leave until the CEC resigns, we will continue until the democracy of the country is secured,” said Pratapgarhi, Rajya Sabha MP.“The Election Commission has forfeited its moral authority to continue even for a second. This is a historic struggle to save our democracy,” said MP John Brittas, leader of the parliamentary party in the Rajya Sabha of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).He was speaking at the Parliament Street station, surrounded by a sea of men in khaki.“The Election Commission has forfeited its moral authority to continue even for a second. This is a historic struggle to save our democracy.”Member of Parliament John Brittas, leader of CPI(M)’s Parliamentary Party in the Rajya Sabha, speaks from Parliament Street. Comrade Brittas and others were detained by the Delhi Police while marching from Parliament to the ECI Office, demanding the immediate resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and a halt to the SIR exercise.— CPI (M) (@cpimspeak) October 6, 2026The CPI(M) said Lok Sabha MPs Amra Ram, R. Sachithanantham and Su Venkatesan, and Rajya Sabha MPs V. Sivadasan and A.A. Rahim were among those detained by the Delhi police while marching with INDIA bloc MPs.Meanwhile, the Delhi state unit of the Communist Party of India (CPI) has issued an appeal to the public to join the India bloc protest on Wednesday (October 7), which would begin from Kashmiri Gate in old Delhi and march towards Nirvachan Sadan (ECI’s office) in central Delhi.Rahul Gandhi holds impromptu press conference“If 300 Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs cannot meet the Chief Election Commissioner, what is the meaning of democracy? We want to ask the commission questions about SIR, about Haryana, about Madhya Pradesh, but they are not giving us answers,” Gandhi said.“We Represent the People of India. Why have 300 MPs been Stopped and Denied Access to the Election Commission?”: LoP Rahul Gandhi#VoteChori #Delhi #India https://t.co/JVMhbSPRS6— The Wire (@thewire_in) October 6, 2026Gandhi has also tweeted about the situation, with the EC officials refusing to allow MPs in to meet with the CEC and other election commissioners:“More than 300 Opposition MPs marched from Parliament to the Election Commission today to meet the Election Commissioners.“We represent crores of Indians.– Why aren’t the Election Commissioners meeting us?– Why is the police stopping and threatening us?”Earlier, Gandhi was seen climbing on barricades and waving the national flag. Gandhi was also stopped by police as he tried to enter Akashvani Bhawan.VIDEO | Delhi: Lok Sabha LoP and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi climbs atop the barricades during the INDIA bloc MPs’ march from Parliament to the ECI, demanding CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation.(Full video available on PTI Videos – https://t.co/d8jp61yd2p) https://t.co/YkwlFV8WCn— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) October 6, 2026Voters’ concerns raised by protesting MPs, INDIA blocMeanwhile in Karnataka, chief minister D.K. Shivakumar said the workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should reveal the source of Form 7s that they allegedly used to file objections in bulk to voter inclusions in the SIR. The poll body has launched an investigation after complaints of thousands of Form 7 applications being filed against legitimate voters surfaced in the state.“The workers will have to tell who gave them. Some of them have admitted it, while some have approached the court. Let the workers disclose who gave the forms,” Shivakumar said.On Monday, similar allegations surfaced in Telangana as well, of Form 7s allegedly being used by BJP-linked booth-level agents in three Hyderabad constituencies to remove the names from voter lists of those who don’t support their party.“We will not stop our protest. CEC Gyanesh Kumar, who was responsible for PM Modi’s illegitimate victory, must resign,” Congress MP Jothimani said at the INDIA bloc protest on Tuesday.Similar barricades were also seen yesterday when at least 15 well-known former civil servants and activists delivered a “letter of impeachment” to the CEC, asking him to step down from his position in light of the serious allegations against him with respect to how the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists has been carried out since June 2025.Ironically on Tuesday, Union minister Ramdas Athawale said the opposition should not politicise the SIR issue but instead “talk to the election commission”, PTI reports.