Rahul-Priyanka’s Surprise Move After Police Stop March Turns Protest Into 8-Hour Standoff

New Delhi, 7th October 2026: A planned opposition march to the Election Commission over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls turned into an hours-long protest on Tuesday after Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra entered the Akashvani Bhavan premises and sat on a dharna, defying attempts by Delhi Police to end the demonstration.

The INDIA bloc opposition MPs had begun a “Save Democracy” march from Parliament towards the Election Commission office. Police stopped the march near NITI Aayog and detained several opposition leaders as they attempted to proceed.

The situation changed around 12.20 pm when Rahul Gandhi, who was expected to leave in a police bus along with other detained leaders, instead moved towards the reception gate of Akashvani Bhavan. Priyanka Gandhi was already in a police bus.

According to the account of the day’s events, Rahul spoke to Priyanka before both leaders entered the premises. They were joined by Congress leaders including Imran Pratapgarhi, K.C. Venugopal, Deepender Hooda, Pawan Khera and Kumari Selja.

Rahul was reportedly stopped by a security guard at the gate but entered the premises before sitting under a banyan tree with Priyanka. The move caught several Congress leaders by surprise and prevented the protest from ending with the detention of opposition MPs.

How the protest unfolded
At around 10 am, INDIA bloc MPs gathered near the Makar Dwar of Parliament. Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) leader Supriya Sule and other opposition MPs then began marching towards the Election Commission.

Around 11.05 am, police barricaded the route near NITI Aayog, preventing the protesters from proceeding further. Opposition MPs sat on the road and raised slogans against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

Between 11.40 am and noon, Rahul Gandhi climbed onto a police barricade and waved the national flag. Police subsequently began removing protesters and detaining opposition leaders.

At around 12.04 pm, Akhilesh Yadav, Abhishek Banerjee and several other opposition leaders were detained and taken away in buses. At that stage, the protest appeared to be heading towards an early conclusion.
However, Rahul Gandhi subsequently changed course and entered the Akashvani Bhavan premises, where he and Priyanka Gandhi continued the protest.

Police make repeated appeals
Police officials reportedly made more than three appeals to Rahul and Priyanka to leave the premises. Around 12.30 pm, they were asked to vacate the area.

Rahul questioned where they were expected to hold their protest if they were removed from the premises. Senior police officers, including DCP Sachin Sharma, later reached the spot and attempted to persuade the leaders to leave, but the protesters refused.

The dharna continued until around 8 pm, when Delhi Police detained Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and other protesters.

Opposition focuses on SIR and Election Commission
The opposition has alleged irregularities in the electoral roll revision process and questioned the Election Commission’s handling of voter-list changes and the process for new voters to submit Form 6.

Opposition leaders have also raised questions over alleged differences within the Election Commission and referred to proceedings in the Supreme Court concerning Form 6.

The Congress has accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of favouring the BJP and facilitating “vote theft”. These are political allegations made by the opposition and have been rejected by the BJP.
The protest also centred on the opposition’s demand to meet the Chief Election Commissioner. Election Commission officials, however, said they had not received any formal request from a political party seeking such a meeting.

The protest ended after more than eight hours, with police detaining around 250 protesters and taking them to the Kingsway Camp Police Lines. They were released around 10 pm, according to the details provided.

Rahul Gandhi was seen carrying a copy of the Constitution when he left the police lines.

The episode highlighted the growing confrontation between the opposition and the Election Commission over the SIR exercise, with Tuesday’s protest extending well beyond the original plan of marching from Parliament to the poll panel’s office.