Indian opposition MPs detained in protest against election chief

Released shortly after, they resumed their march and began a sit-in near Election Commission headquarters.It is the latest escalation in a growing row over a nationwide revision of voter rolls.Opposition parties accuse Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of overseeing a process that could benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), an allegation both the BJP and Election Commission have rejected.Security officials blocked the roads from India's parliament to….

We have officers stationed at multiple points, from where the protesters were picked up in buses and taken to different police stations," Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Manjeet Sheoran told the BBC.

The police did not disclose how many lawmakers had been detained.

The opposition said 237 MPs from a range of parties participated in the march.Tuesday's protest came just four days after the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), a Gen Z-backed online satirical movement, organised demonstrations in Mumbai and Delhi, also demanding the CEC's resignation.

The group has described those demonstrations as the beginning of a nationwide campaign and has called for another round of protests on 10 October.At the centre of the controversy is the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.The exercise began in the eastern state of Bihar in June 2025 before being expanded to other parts of the country.

The Election Commission says the revision is intended to remove duplicate and ineligible voters from electoral rolls.

More than 130 million names have so far been removed from draft voter lists nationwide.Opposition parties and activists allege that many eligible voters have been wrongly excluded and accuse the poll body of conducting the process improperly.The campaign against Kumar gathered momentum after an investigation by the Indian Express newspaper reported that election commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally objected at least 14 times over a 10-month….

Some concerns were linked directly to the electoral roll revision programme.The Election Commission, a three-member body comprising the chief election commissioner and two election commissioners, defended its decision-making process, saying differing views were part of institutional functioning and that decisions had ultimately been taken unanimously.The revelations nevertheless triggered a political backlash, with opposition leaders intensifying calls for Kumar's resignation.India's Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar is at the centre of a….

Time to resign."BJP MP Sambit Patra described them as a "sponsored attempt" to bring about a change of power through "anarchy".

He accused opposition parties of seeking to undermine constitutional institutions, including the Election Commission.The controversy has also reached India's Supreme Court, which has asked both the federal government and the Election Commission to respond to a petition alleging that Kumar took key decisions without the approval of the two other election commissioners.The petition argues that Kumar exercised powers that belong to the commission collectively and seeks a ruling that any….

However, it declined to suspend Kumar at this stage, saying it would first hear the Election Commission's response and examine relevant records.The BBC has contacted the Election Commission for comment on Tuesday's protest.

Opposition leaders have alleged that CEC Gyanesh Kumar manipulated voter rolls to favour Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party during elections.