Dozens of Indian opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi of the main opposition Congress party, were detained by police as they marched to the Election Commission in a rare public protest against alleged electoral malpractices.
The opposition leaders and lawmakers staged a defiant march from India’s parliament to the office of the independent Election Commission in New Delhi on Monday, only to be halted by police a short distance away.
Wearing white caps emblazoned with the words “vote chori” (vote theft), senior members of Parliament (MP) from multiple opposition parties sat down on the road, chanting slogans that condemned the government’s silence on alleged electoral malpractices as a direct assault on democracy, according to local media reports.
Angry protesters attempted to break through police barricades but were forcibly detained and transported away in buses.
They vocally denounced both the Election Commission and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, accusing them of orchestrating stolen elections.
“This fight is not political. It is a fight to save the constitution,” Rahul Gandhi told the reporters.
“We are fighting for ‘one person, one vote. We want a clean, pure voters’ list. The reality is they cannot talk… the truth is in front of the country,” the Congress leader said.
Gandhi and the Congress party allege that in several states where they suffered defeats, voters’ names have been unlawfully deleted or duplicated to rig elections in favor of Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Opposition leaders have also criticized the Election Commission’s recent decision to revise the voters’ list in the crucial northern Indian state of Bihar ahead of state elections later this year, arguing that it threatens to disenfranchise large numbers of poor voters.
The BJP and the commission have rejected the accusations. The commission has said that changes in voters’ lists are shared with political parties and all complaints are investigated thoroughly.
It also said that voters’ lists need to be revised to remove dead voters or those who have relocated to other parts of the country.
Congress and its allies fared poorly in two state elections that they had expected to win after an impressive show in last year’s parliamentary elections, which saw the BJP lose its outright majority and remain in power only after forming a coalition with regional parties.
The Congress party has also raised concerns about the functioning of the electronic voting machines, alleging that the counting process is unfair, claims that have been rejected by the Election Commission.
The BJP has accused opposition parties of attempting to create a “state of anarchy” by raising doubts about the electoral process.
“They are in a state of bankruptcy because of their continuous losses,” India’s education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said.
The credibility of Indian elections has seldom been challenged in recent decades, but some analysts warn that the opposition’s accusations could tarnish Prime Minister Modi’s image as he faces one of the most challenging phases of his 11-year tenure.
