India’s opposition stepped up protests against the government on Tuesday after more than 130 million names were removed from draft voter rolls in a nationwide revision, with police detaining several opposition lawmakers as they marched towards the Election Commission headquarters in New Delhi.

Main opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, his sister Priyanka Gandhi and other MPs were taken away in police buses after attempting to march to the Election Commission. They were released shortly afterwards and resumed their protest, staging a sit-in near the commission’s headquarters.

The opposition parties are demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, accusing him of overseeing a voter-roll revision that could benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The BJP and Election Commission have rejected the allegations.

“Some of the MPs tried to take some other roads to the Election Commission building. We have officers stationed at multiple points, from where the protesters were picked up in buses and taken to different police stations,” Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Manjeet Sheoran told the BBC.

Police did not disclose how many lawmakers were detained. The opposition said 237 MPs from several parties took part in the march.

The protest came four days after the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), a Gen Z-backed online satirical movement, held demonstrations in Mumbai and Delhi demanding Kumar’s resignation. The group has called for another round of protests on October 10.

At the centre of the dispute is the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, which began in Bihar in June 2025 before being expanded across the country.

The Election Commission says the exercise is aimed at removing duplicate and ineligible voters.

Opposition parties and activists, however, allege that eligible voters have also been excluded and accuse the Election Commission of mishandling the process.

Calls for Kumar’s resignation intensified after an Indian Express investigation reported that election commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally objected at least 14 times over 10 months to decisions and orders they said were issued in the Election Commission’s name without their knowledge.

The objections reportedly concerned voter-roll additions and deletions, access to the voter database and electoral data security, including issues linked to the SIR exercise.

The three-member Election Commission has defended its decision-making process, saying differences of opinion are part of institutional functioning and that decisions were ultimately taken unanimously.

Security was tightened around the Election Commission headquarters on Tuesday, with police barricading roads between Parliament and the commission’s office.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge described three demands as “non-negotiable”: Kumar’s resignation, cancellation of the SIR exercise and a return to paper ballots.

Rahul, leader of the opposition in India’s lower house of Parliament, also called for Kumar’s resignation, writing on social media: “Gyanesh, it’s done, bro. Time to resign.”

The BJP condemned the protests. BJP MP Sambit Patra described them as a “sponsored attempt” to bring about a change of power through “anarchy” and accused opposition parties of undermining constitutional institutions.

The dispute has also reached the Supreme Court, which has sought responses from the federal government and Election Commission to a petition alleging that Kumar took key decisions without the approval of the other two election commissioners.

The petition argues that Kumar exercised powers belonging to the commission collectively. The court said Election Commission decisions must be taken unanimously or by majority and indicated that decisions could be set aside if they were found to have bypassed that process.

The court, however, declined to suspend Kumar at this stage, saying it would first hear the Election Commission’s response and examine relevant records.