News Brief
Rahul Gandhi, INDI Alliance Leaders Detained During Protest Against Election Commission Over Bihar SIR
Congress Leaders protesting (X/@ShashiTharoor)
Delhi Police on Monday (11 August) detained several MPs from the INDI alliance, including Rahul Gandhi, as they marched from Parliament House to the Election Commission of India (ECI) headquarters, protesting against the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar and alleging large-scale poll irregularities, The Hindu reported.
Led by Gandhi, the march began from Makar Dwar but was stopped by police barricades near Parliament.
TMC’s Mahua Moitra and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav attempted to climb the barricades, while Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and others staged a sit-in.
The ECI agreed to meet a Congress delegation at noon after the party sought an appointment.
However, according to the Commission’s daily bulletin, neither Congress nor any other political party has filed formal objections to the ongoing voter list correction process in Bihar, which began on 1 August.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor questioned the ECI’s stance, saying, “We are all asking why @ECISVEEP could not give serious answers to the serious questions raised by @RahulGandhi, rather than insisting on formalities like an oath and an affidavit (when the data cited is all the EC’s own data anyway).”
BJP leader and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan accused Congress of manufacturing controversy, stating, “SIR is not happening for the first time in the country. Congress lies about EVMs, raises the issue of Maharashtra elections, Haryana elections and creates a mountain of lies… It is their well-thought-out strategy to create a state of anarchy...I appeal to the Opposition and the Congress party to raise all issues in Parliament.”
Later in the evening, Kharge is scheduled to host a dinner meeting for INDI alliance MPs to chalk out a common strategy on the alleged Bihar poll fraud.
