Live: CEC Row: Rahul Gandhi and Other Opposition Leaders Released Following Detention

Congress announced that Rahul Gandhi alongside several party colleagues has been set free from police custody. Delhi Police had earlier taken them into custody following their demonstration at Akashvani Bhavan directed at Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

“The country has never witnessed a government so timid... Is this acceptable conduct? Demonstrating peacefully is our fundamental right,” remarked Priyanka Gandhi Vadra after being held alongside opposition lawmakers during their sit-in at Akashvani Bhavan to demand an interaction with CEC Gyanesh Kumar.

In a video recorded during his detention, Congress leader Imran Pratapgarhi stated that the forceful eviction of Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and fellow parliamentarians clearly proves the Narendra Modi administration seeks to crush whatever little democratic hope still survives in the country.

The ECI noted in an official statement that while evaluating a meeting plea from opposition MPs received past 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Delhi Police’s DCP informed officials that 240 MPs wanted the session hosted at the Parliament House Annexe. The poll panel deemed this an irregular condition and turned it down, pointing out that established guidelines mandate such discussions take place strictly inside Election Commission headquarters. The commission reaffirmed standard procedure and refused an external venue request amid the ongoing protests.

Delhi Police briefed the Election Commission that a delegation of 240 opposition lawmakers, headed by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, wished to convene with the commission at the Parliament Annexe complex on Tuesday, October 6. While the EC agreed to dispatch its highest-ranking bureaucrat for the Annexe engagement, the parliamentarians declined that offer.

Congress stated that law enforcement authorities informed them Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were brought to the Kingsway Camp police lines located in North Delhi. Opposition leaders had gathered to demonstrate against alleged “vote theft” following journalistic accounts pointing to procedural flaws in poll panel functioning and the Special Intensive Revision process.

Rahul Gandhi was spotted looking out from the window of a large police coach following his detention during the opposition sit-in. Delhi Police personnel moved out of the Akashvani Bhavan compound while the Congress leader remained seated inside the transport vehicle.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, K. C. Venugopal, Deepender Hooda, and Amrinder Singh Raja Warring were taken into custody by security forces. The leaders were subsequently escorted into a police transport van.

Former Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring pushed back against being detained when Delhi Police entered Akashvani Bhavan to remove Rahul Gandhi and other opposition lawmakers conducting a sit-in to see the CEC.

Police teams advanced into Akashvani Bhavan to take Rahul Gandhi into custody after opposition members initiated an indoor demonstration seeking an audience with the Chief Election Commissioner.

Congress members of Parliament, among them Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, K. C. Venugopal, Pawan Khera, and Deepender Hooda, are staging an indoor protest at Akashvani Bhavan against CEC Gyanesh Kumar.

ECI insiders mentioned on Tuesday that no opposition group formally scheduled or sought an appointment with the panel, even as Lok Sabha Opposition Leader Rahul Gandhi and fellow leaders agitated close to Nirvachan Sadan seeking a face-to-face dialogue.

Five left-leaning student groups announced plans for a united demonstration marching to Jantar Mantar on October 10, demanding the stepping down of CEC Gyanesh Kumar, alongside calls to scrap the SIR initiative and restructure the ECI. The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) also confirmed it would press ahead with its October 10 rally at Jantar Mantar against the poll chief, arguing the gathering represents a collective youth mobilization rather than a partisan event.

Speaking from the Akashvani Bhavan complex, Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi stated, “We merely wish to see the Election Commissioners—Gyanesh Kumar alongside his two colleagues. Representing both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, we opposition MPs simply seek an open discussion. It remains baffling why the Election Commission avoids dialoguing with us. Having been elected by millions of citizens, our intent is only to seek clarifications, yet they refuse to furnish responses...”

CJP voiced allegations of administrative harassment and intrusive travel-subsidy checks before its scheduled October 10 demonstration in the capital, labeling the actions sheer authoritarianism. The outfit claimed members are being systematically targeted with official police notices to deter them from joining the gathering.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut contended Tuesday that CEC Gyanesh Kumar lacks any legitimate ethical justification to continue in office following the Supreme Court's declaration that it never ratified modifications to voter enrollment forms. “The game played by Gyanesh Kumar has now been completely unmasked,” Raut remarked, alleging that the poll chief restructured electoral guidelines without building consensus or securing majority approval. He added that even the apex judiciary was misled by Gyanesh Kumar, leaving him with zero moral standing to occupy the post.

Alleging that pre-filled Form-7 applications were presented in Hyderabad's Goshamahal constituency to delete Muslim voters from the rolls, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi urged both the ECI and Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy to intervene against what he described as an orchestrated scheme. He maintained that a BJP backer submitted pre-printed Form-7 documents challenging 122 voters across Goshamahal as an intentional, targeted maneuver. Owaisi clarified that the Booth Level Officer (BLO) rejected those submissions, inquiring in an AIMIM broadcast who else could be responsible if not the Sangh Parivar.