New Delhi, 11 Aug

Several Opposition MPs, including Leaders of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge were detained by Delhi police on Monday amid high drama, after they took out a protest march from the Parliament House to Election Commission against the revision of electoral rolls in Bihar and alleged "vote chori".

Police put up barricades outside PTI Building on the way to prevent the MPs, protesting the voter roll revision in Bihar and the alleged poll rigging, from marching forward.

As the MPs, about 30 of them, were stopped, many of them sat on the road and raised slogans while some women MPs, including saree-clad TMC's Mahua Moitra and the Congress' Sanjana Jatav and Jothimani, climbed the barricade and raised slogans against the EC.

They were later whisked away by police in buses lined up along the road and taken to the Parliament Street Police Station. All the MPs were later released.

Delhi police said that the Opposition leaders were detained and taken to Parliament Street Police Station as the EC had only given permission to 30 MPs to enter its premises but the protesters were in "large numbers". Police said no one had sought permission for the protest march.

In addition to the SIR exercise in Bihar, Congress is also protesting what it claims was large-scale manipulation of voter lists in Bengaluru's Mahadevapura constituency during the 2023 Assembly elections.

Talking about the march after being detained, Rahul Gandhi said, “This fight is not political, but it is aimed at saving the Constitution. This fight is for 'one man, one vote' and we want a clean, pure voter list".

TMC's Moitra and Mitali Bag fainted during the protest and were helped by Rahul Gandhi.

Kharge, who was also detained from outside the PTI building, said the protest against 'vote chori' and SIR is a fight to protect people's right to vote and a struggle to save democracy and the INDIA bloc will expose the BJP's conspiracy.

Prominent among those who participated in the march were NCP-SP's Sharad Pawar, T R Baalu (DMK), Sanjay Raut (SS-UBT), Derek O'Brien (TMC), Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav, as well as other MPs from opposition parties like the DMK, the RJD, Left parties.