Published Oct 08, 2026 | 4:05 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 08, 2026 | 11:56 PM
The Opposition MPs, led by Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi have reached Rajghat in three buses.
Synopsis: INDIA bloc MPs continued their protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar for the third consecutive day, heading to Rajghat for a sit-in after a lunch meeting. The Opposition is demanding Kumar’s resignation over alleged irregularities in the SIR of electoral rolls and has accused authorities of suppressing protests.
Thousands gathered at the historic Rajghat in New Delhi on Thursday, October 8, for a sit-in protest by Opposition MPs led by Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi. It is the third consecutive day of protests by the Opposition in the national capital. The Opposition is demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, whom it has accused of manipulating electoral rolls and deleting large numbers of voters through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
The MPs reached Rajghat in three buses, after attending a lunch meeting hosted by Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge at the Moets restaurant in Delhi’s Connaught Place.
Among those who attended the meeting were Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee and Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy. The Samjwadi Party (SP), which skipped the lunch meet and subsequent protest near Jantar Mantar on October 7, has joined the protest on Thursday. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav was absent from the meeting; however, he sent two representatives.
According to senior Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal, the Opposition had requested a meeting with the President but has yet to receive a response.
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— Congress (@INCIndia) October 8, 2026
Large contingents of police and central forces were deployed in Connaught Place and at the Rajghat premises ahead of the march.
However, unlike the previous protests, during which MPs, including Rahul Gandhi, were allegedly dragged and assaulted by police personnel, the Delhi Police appeared more cooperative on Thursday. Visuals from the protest site showed police personnel helping manage the crowd and clearing a path for the MPs to reach Rajghat.
The MPs left the Rajghat premises in the same buses while stressing that the protests will continue until the resignation of the CEC.
Speaking to reporters after emerging from the lunch meeting, Rahul Gandhi reiterated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, CEC Gyanesh Kumar and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat will be brought to justice for hijacking the country through a criminal conspiracy.
“The reality is that Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Gyanesh Kumar, and Mohan Bhagwat have hijacked India through a criminal conspiracy, destroyed the Constitution, and stolen votes. We, the Opposition, assure you that action will be taken. They will be brought to justice. This is our guarantee. You will see these four individuals brought to justice,” he said.
Gandhi said the Opposition MPs wished to stage the protest peacefully but were assaulted by the police.
“Around 300 MPs, from the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, wish to stage a peaceful protest. We have been prevented from protesting for two days now. On the first day, we were stopped outside the Election Commission. Subsequently, we expressed our desire to protest at Jantar Mantar, yet yesterday, as you witnessed, we were stopped there as well; our people were assaulted,” he said.
Announcing the protest, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge told reporters that the MPs will stage a peaceful sit-in protest at the Gandhi memorial in Rajghat and pray that the BJP-led central government be “granted wisdom.”
“We, the members of the INDIA alliance, are heading to the Gandhi Memorial to stage a peaceful sit-in protest. We will sit there and pray that the BJP government, specifically PM Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah be granted the wisdom to realize that their actions are not in the nation’s interest,” Kharge said.
He said the MPs will “pray” that the BJP-led government stop “stripping us of our rights and freedom.”
“Whether it is the issue of vote theft, the rising inflation, the problems facing the youth, or any other crisis they have created, everything goes against the public interest. That is why we are going to the Gandhi Memorial to pray; we want to highlight that they are snatching away the freedom we secured, the freedom won for us by great leaders like Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, and Vallabhbhai Patel and are making every effort to destroy it,” he said.
“They are taking away our right to vote. We are going there to pray that they be granted the wisdom to stop stripping us of the rights and freedoms—including the right to vote—that were secured for us by these great leaders. We will sit there and stage a protest,” he added.
It is the third consecutive day of fierce protests by the Opposition MPs demanding the resignation of CEC Gynaaesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, which reportedly resulted in the deletion of 13 crore names from the electoral rolls.
Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has also demanded an investigation against PM Modi and Home Minister Shah, alleging a criminal conspiracy to destroy the democratic system in the country through “stealing” votes.
The Rajghat protest comes a day after the national capital witnessed fierce protests by the Opposition MPs, near the Jantar Mantar.
The MPs, who had reached Jantar Mantar for a march demanding the CEC’s resignation, were stopped by the Delhi Police just metres away from the designated protest site.
Rahul Gandhi, flanked by party workers, was seen resisting attempts by the police to remove him from the site. Senior police officials were seen trying to convince Gandhi to not proceed with the rally.
However, Gandhi, along with other Opposition MPs, including Priyanka Gandhi, was forcibly removed from the site by police personnel despite resistance. Gandhi was seen being lifted by the police and pushed into a tempo traveller. The leaders were later let go by the police.
(Compiled by Fayisa CA)
