Opposition Prays For Wisdom For The Government And The Election Chief

The Leaders of India's INDIA bloc held a silent protest at Rajghat, the memorial to Mahatma Gandhi, on Thursday, a day after police detained them short of the capital's designated protest site. 

Image Source: @INCIndia on X

They said they prayed for wisdom for the government and for the Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar. They alleged that the prime minister, the union home minister and CEC had hijacked the country through what they described as a criminal conspiracy involving the theft of votes. 

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, LoP Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, along with other INDIA bloc leaders, staged the protest at Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial. The protest was peaceful today and police did not intervene, in contrast to the previous two days, when opposition MPs were stopped and detained on their way first to the Election Commission's headquarters and then to Jantar Mantar.

चलिए शुरू करते हैं! https://t.co/kX3own1AUp

— Supriya Shrinate (@SupriyaShrinate) October 8, 2026

Before the Rajghat protest, opposition MPs met for lunch at Connaught Place. It was the second such gathering in two days. Rahul Gandhi said around 300 MPs from both Houses had wanted to protest peacefully and had been prevented from doing so on two successive days, first outside the Election Commission and then at Jantar Mantar. Kharge said the alliance would pray at the memorial that the government be granted the wisdom to see that its actions were not in the national interest.

Opposition leaders said the agitation would continue on Friday and that they were expected to meet at Parliament House in the morning. The Election Commission had last maintained that its orders follow established procedure. 

भारत के संविधान, लोकतंत्र और उसकी आवाज़ की रक्षा हर भारतीय की ज़िम्मेदारी है - और ये Process शुरू हो चुका है। हिंदुस्तान की जनता को न्याय दिलाने का Process लोकतंत्र में भरोसा वापस लाने का Process देशद्रोहियों को सज़ा दिलाने का Process और अब ये रुकने वाला नहीं है। https://t.co/HrRzoqqMa7

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) October 8, 2026

The Supreme Court issued notice to the Commission, the central government and all three election commissioners on Monday, seeking responses within a week. 

The BJP has rejected the allegations. Nitin Nabin said Rahul Gandhi and his supporters had an anarchist mindset and were trying to spread poison in society, and noted that the same Election Commission had conducted the elections in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, where opposition parties came to power.