All the senior opposition parliamentarians, including Congress’s Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut, were released two hours after arrest for protesting against the Indian Election Commission.
According to Indian media outlets, they were arrested on Monday following protests over the Election Commission’s alleged collusion with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Earlier in the day, Joint Commissioner of Police Deepak Purohit had said that the opposition did not have the necessary permission for a protest of this magnitude.
“Only a group of 30 MPs had been allowed to march to the Election Commission and submit a complaint but the protesters were in ‘large numbers’,” Purohit stated.
Meanwhile, more than 30 MPs were detained and taken to the Parliament Street Police Station.
The MPs from various parties took out a protest march from Parliament House to the Election Commission headquarters, about a kilometre away, but were stopped midway by police.
“The Election Commission said 30 MPs could visit them… but over 200 came marching. We stopped them to prevent any breakdown of law and order. They were then detained. Some MPs tried jumping barricades. They were also detained,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Devesh Kumar Mahla said.
Subsequently, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge returned to Parliament and the proceedings of both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha began.
Despite protests, the Lok Sabha passed two important Bills.
Meanwhile, Indian media reports that Gandhi and Congress have alleged that voters’ lists in states where the party lost are corrupted, with voters’ names deleted or included more than once to rig elections in favour of Modi’s BJP.
Opposition parties have also criticised the Election Commission of India (ECI) decision to revise the voters’ list in the key northern state of Bihar just before state elections due later this year, saying it aims to disenfranchise large numbers of poor voters.
BJP and the ECI have rejected the accusations.