New Delhi: Senior leader of the Indian opposition party Congress, Rahul Gandhi, was detained while he was leading a protest march against alleged election rigging in Delhi.

The march was being held against alleged changes in the voter list in Bihar and alleged ‘vote theft’ in the general elections, which was headed towards the Election Commission office. According to Indian media reports, about 300 leaders of the Congress and other opposition parties participated in the march.

Rahul Gandhi has made strong allegations against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Election Commission in recent statements, including claims of vote theft, large-scale rigging of the election process through fake voter IDs, fake addresses and fake photos.

He claimed that electoral irregularities occurred in at least more than 100 constituencies, and if this rigging had not been there, Narendra Modi would not have become the Prime Minister. Rahul Gandhi called the last elections a “direct attack” on the Constitution and said the BJP had done serious damage to the democratic process.

The Congress said the protest was entirely peaceful, aimed at raising its voice in favour of free and fair elections. However, Delhi Police stopped the march and detained several leaders, including Rahul Gandhi.

According to political analysts, the incident marks an unprecedented rise in political temperatures in India ahead of the upcoming elections. The growing tension between the government and the opposition is likely to intensify in the coming days.