New Delhi: Opposition MPs, including senior leaders of the INDIA bloc, began a protest march from the Parliament’s Makar Dwar on Monday to the Election Commission of India (ECI) headquarters. The march was organised to protest against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar and allegations of voter fraud in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

However, Delhi Police blocked the march shortly after it began, preventing the leaders from proceeding further. The protest was led by prominent figures including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, who is seeking to draw attention to what the opposition alleges as attempts to manipulate the voter list.

"We are not being allowed to meet the Election Commission. More than 300 MPs from the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha are marching here. Police are arresting the MPs here and not allowing us to meet the EC...," Congress MP Syed Naseer Hussain told ANI. 

Wearing white caps with a red cross on the words 'SIR' and "vote chori", the protesting MPs raised slogans against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in Bihar while carrying placards and banners.

Before embarking on the protest march at Parliament's Makar Dwar, they sang the national anthem.

Police had made elaborate arrangements and placed barricades next to the Transport Bhawan on Parliament Street to stop the protesting MPs from moving forward,

The police asked the MPs not to proceed further and made announcement through a loudspeaker, as they were prevented from moving forward to the Election Commission headquarters, a short distance from Parliament House.

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Prominent among those who participated in the march were 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.

TMC MPs Mahua Moitra and Sushmita Dev, along with Congress MPs Sanjana Jatav and Jothimani, climbed barricades outside Transport Bhawan and raised slogans against the Election Commission (EC) after police blocked their path.

The protesting MPs held posters demanding a rollback of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. One banner read, “SIR + Vote Theft = Murder of Democracy,” while another declared, “SIR - Loktantra Par Vaar.”

They also displayed placards questioning the silence on SIR, with slogans like “SIR par chuppi Kyu,” and accused the EC of colluding with the government. Many carried posters alleging “vote theft,” a claim made by Rahul Gandhi but denied by the Election Commission.

Congress MP Pramod Tiwari compared the INDIA bloc’s march to Mahatma Gandhi’s historic Dandi march. Speaking to ANI, Tiwari said, “Rahul Gandhi is walking on Gandhi ji’s path... We will march from the Makar Dwar of the Parliament to the Election Commission’s office and will demand to be heard. We want the EC not to become a co-accused with the BJP in murdering democracy.”

The Election Commission granted an appointment to Congress MP Jairam Ramesh for an interaction at noon on Monday, but Tiwari said the party would “think about it.”