'Voter Chori' row: Opposition march to EC office halted, MPs including Rahul Gandhi detained by police

New Delhi: The national capital witnessed high political drama on Monday as INDIA bloc MPs attempted to march from Parliament to the Election Commission of India (ECI) office, protesting against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar and alleged “voter fraud” in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The MPs, who set out from Makara Dwar in Parliament to Nirvachan Sadan, were stopped mid-way by Delhi Police, with heavy security deployment and barricades across central Delhi. Congress MP Pramod Tiwari likened the protest to Mahatma Gandhi’s historic Dandi March, calling it a fight to safeguard democracy. The MPs, including Rahul Gandhi, are being taken into custody by police.

The ECI, meanwhile, approved a meeting with INDIA bloc leaders for Monday, following a request from the Congress Party. In a letter to Congress MP Jairam Ramesh, the ECI secretariat said it had considered his request made “on behalf of certain political parties” and granted an appointment for an interaction. Citing space constraints, the Commission asked for the names of up to 30 attendees along with their vehicle details. The agenda for the meeting was not specified.

"My letter to the Election Commission was direct, and I had clearly written that all opposition MPs will hold a peaceful march from the Parliament to the Election Commission. All MPs want to give a document to the Election Commission about the SIR. This was our demand. I wrote this letter last evening and the 'chunaav aayog', which has now become 'churaav aayog', did not give me a reply. And now they say that only 30 MPs can come. We wanted all opposition MPs to collectively give a document to the Election Commission. We have been stopped here itself. We are not being allowed to head to the Election Commission," Jairam Ramesh said.

The march comes amid fresh allegations from Rahul Gandhi, who last week accused the BJP and ECI of “huge criminal fraud” in the electoral process. He pointed to Karnataka’s Mahadevapura assembly constituency, claiming over one lakh entries in the voter list were fake, duplicate, tied to invalid addresses, or added through misuse of Form 6. Calling it “a crime against the Constitution,” Gandhi demanded that the EC release digital voter rolls for public audit. On Sunday, he escalated the campaign by launching a “Vote Chori” website to mobilise public support.

“It is critical that we expose Voter Chori,” Gandhi said in a video message, urging citizens to back the demand for transparent electoral rolls. “Vote Chori is an attack on the foundational idea of ‘one man, one vote’. A clean voter roll is imperative for free and fair elections.”

The campaign website, votechori.in, invites citizens to join the movement or give a missed call to register support. Gandhi has also demanded that the EC provide electronic voters’ lists from the past 10 years along with polling station video recordings, warning that failure to do so would amount to concealing electoral fraud. The ECI has dismissed the allegations as “baseless,” reiterating its commitment to conducting free, fair, and transparent polls.

Later on Monday, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge is scheduled to host a dinner for alliance MPs as the bloc sharpens its strategy over alleged irregularities in Bihar’s SIR and other states.