Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi was detained on October 7 for the third time in two days during a protest demanding the resignation of the election chief over a controversial revision of voter lists. Gandhi and other opposition lawmakers were apprehended by police as they marched toward Jantar Mantar, a designated protest site in New Delhi. A live feed on the Congress Party’s YouTube channel showed police taking him into a vehicle and driving away, and several other opposition lawmakers and protesters were detained as well.
Opposition parties, their student units and the “Cockroach” youth movement have been demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, accusing the poll body of benefiting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling BJP. The Election Commission has so far removed more than 130 million names from the voter lists, with millions appealing the removals. Protesters allege the changes disproportionately removed opposition supporters; the commission and the government deny the allegations, saying the revision targets duplicate and ineligible entries.
Speaking before his detention, Gandhi said protesters showed up unannounced after Delhi police stopped their gathering the day before, and he called Kumar “not the legitimate commissioner.” There was no immediate comment from the police on the detentions. The demonstrations present a new political challenge to Modi midway into his third term, months after similar youth-led protests forced the resignation of his education minister over exam paper leaks.
The legal front remains the Supreme Court, where the special intensive revision of voter rolls faces a hearing next week. The combination of street escalation and the pending court case makes the legitimacy of the rolls, not any single election date, the live issue.