Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge during a lunch for INDIA bloc MPs at Sagar Ratna restaurant, Janpath, in New Delhi, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. (PTI Photo/Karma Bhutia)
New Delhi: A day after INDIA bloc MPs' march and Rahul Gandhi's sit-in, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday hosted a lunch for the MPs of the alliance at a restaurant here.
The opposition MPs are likely to give shape to their immediate steps as part of efforts to up the ante over the "vote chori" issue and push for the demand for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation.
The Congress president hosted a lunch for the INDIA bloc MPs on Wednesday at 1:30 PM at Sagar Ratna, Janpath.
The lunch meeting comes a day after Rahul Gandhi took the centre stage of the opposition's street protest, forcing a total lockdown of Parliament Street as he led an over eight-hour sit-in that ended with his forcible detention after opposition MPs were stopped from marching towards the Election Commission's office nearby.
The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and others were released after 10 pm after about two hours in detention.
High drama unfolded throughout the day on Tuesday starting with the opposition march on the "vote chori" allegation from the Parliament House around 11 am amid heavy barricading by police.
While most opposition MPs were detained and prevented from moving forward, Rahul Gandhi along with other Congress MPs, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra , entered the Akashvani Bhawan premises, barely 200 metres from the EC office, insisting that they be allowed to meet the election commissioners.
Their sit-in, which began around noon, ended after 8 pm, when a large number of police personnel forcibly removed Gandhi from there and pushed him and others into police vans and buses, as the MPs resisted. There were scenes of jostling and scuffling between protesters and police, with a policeman seen locking his arms around Rahul Gandhi from behind.
Police said nearly 250 people were detained.
Rahul Gandhi, TMC's Derek O'Brien and a Samajwadi Party MP, besides Priyanka Gandhi and K C Venugopal and others were taken in different vehicles to various police stations and released after a brief detention, capping an action-packed day of opposition protests against the CEC.
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