Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has been detained for the third time in two days during protests calling for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Police stopped Gandhi and other opposition lawmakers as they marched towards Jantar Mantar, New Delhi’s designated protest site, on Wednesday. Several protesters and opposition politicians were also taken into custody.
Video broadcast on the Congress Party’s YouTube channel showed officers placing Gandhi into a vehicle before driving him away. Police did not immediately comment on the detentions.
The demonstrations centre on a controversial revision of India’s voter lists. Opposition parties, student groups and the “Cockroach” youth movement accuse the Election Commission of benefiting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.
The commission and the government deny the allegations, saying the changes are intended to remove duplicate and ineligible entries while ensuring eligible voters remain registered.
More than 130 million names have so far been removed from the electoral rolls, according to the figures cited by the opposition, with millions appealing against their removal. About 969 million people were eligible to vote in the 2024 election.
Opposition parties claim the revisions have disproportionately removed voters who support them while preserving or adding voters more likely to back Mr Modi’s party.
Gandhi said protesters had gathered without notice after Delhi police stopped their demonstration the previous day. “We will go to the designated protest site, sit there, and tell the country that, for us, Gyanesh Kumar is not the legitimate commissioner,” he told reporters before being detained.
He also said those responsible for what he called “vote theft” were traitors and insisted that Mr Kumar would have to resign.
Gandhi and opposition lawmakers had protested on Tuesday, but police broke up the gathering and briefly detained them. The latest demonstrations represent a new political challenge to Mr Modi midway through his third term.
Similar protests led by the Cockroach Janta Party youth movement recently forced the resignation of the education minister over exam paper leaks. The movement has become one of the most visible signs of public dissent against the government, amid anger over job scarcity, corruption and a lack of accountability.
