Rahul Gandhi Detained in Protest Against Chief Election Commissioner's Resignation

Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday led INDIA bloc leaders from a lunch meeting towards Jantar Mantar in a bus procession, in a surprise attempt to stage a protest against , as he continues to take his politics to the streets. , however, police stopped the leaders before they could reach the designated protest site and detained Gandhi and several other opposition leaders. "We are not going to stop protesting till (Chief Election Commissioner) Gyanesh Kumar resigns. This is a fight to protect the most sacred thing in this country. There is nothing that Narendra Modi and Amit Shah can do that will stop us," Gandhi said. There were several dramatic moments during the nearly three-hour-long bus procession and an impromptu sit-in at the roundabout in front of the Shangri-La hotel, where opposition MPs were stopped by security personnel, with Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra lying flat on her back on the street, clutching a copy of the Constitution, along with other women leaders. Rahul resisted police attempts to put him inside a van for detention. INDIA bloc leaders jostled with security personnel who tried to detain them and clear the area. A day after INDIA bloc MPs marched from Parliament and , Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge hosted lunch for the alliance's MPs at a South Indian restaurant at Janpath, seen by many as a show of solidarity and a cover for launching another street protest. The MPs converged at the all-vegetarian Sagar Ratna after Rahul had earlier been trolled online by a section of X users for having a non-vegetarian roll from the 'Khan Chacha' eatery during his eight-hour sit-in at Akashvani Bhawan. The lunch began at 1:30 pm, with opposition MPs congregating for a second straight day. After about one-and-a-half hours, the MPs streamed out of the eatery, took their seats in three buses parked on Janpath Road and headed towards Jantar Mantar.