During the opposition’s march, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav jumped over the police barricade and sat on a dharna in the middle of the road. During this, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was also seen raising slogans. In fact, the leaders of the opposition alliance ‘India’ were marching from Parliament to the Election Commission of India in protest against the special intensive revision of the voter list in Bihar and allegations of ‘voter fraud’ during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Opposition MPs took out a protest march from Parliament House to the Election Commission office in protest against the voter list amendment in Bihar. During this, police barricades were put up at the Transport Bhawan to stop the protesting opposition MPs. Here they were stopped from proceeding towards the Election Commission headquarters. The police said that no permission was taken by the opposition MPs for this march.

After being stopped by the police, many MPs including Akhilesh Yadav, Mahua Moitra tried to climb the barricades. Some MPs jumped the barricades and sat on a dharna in the middle of the road. The police tried to convince the protesting MPs, but when the MPs refused to move from the road, the police detained all the leaders including Rahul-Priyanka Gandhi. However, they were later released.

Why the opposition march?

Opposition MPs, including Mallikarjun Kharge and Sharad Pawar, on Monday took out a march from Parliament House to the Election Commission headquarters in protest against the voter list amendment in Bihar. However, the police stopped them midway near the Transport Bhawan. When the police stopped the MPs from proceeding, many leaders sat on the road and started raising slogans against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process and allegations of ‘vote theft’.

They carried posters and raised slogans demanding the withdrawal of SIR. Wearing white caps with a red cross with ‘SIR’ and ‘vote theft’ written on them, the protesting MPs waved placards and banners and raised slogans against the SIR process. Earlier, they sang the national anthem before starting the protest march at the Makar Dwar of Parliament.

Prominent among those who participated in the march included TR Baalu (DMK), Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena-UBT), Derek O’Brien (TMC), Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav and other MPs from opposition parties like DMK, RJD and Left parties.