Among those detained were All India Congress Committee secretary Manoj Chauhan, Seva Dal president Deep Bayan and Assam Pradesh Congress Committee general-secretary Udit Bhanu Das, along with several other party workers.
The protest came amid a continuing political row over the Election Commission’s special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
An Indian Express report published on Wednesday claimed that election commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections at least 14 times over a 10-month period to decisions linked to SIR, including those concerning voter deletions and electoral roll data.
The Election Commission, however, has maintained that decisions relating to the SIR process were taken unanimously and with the approval of all three commissioners.
The Congress said the reported objections vindicated concerns repeatedly raised by Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and the party over the functioning of the electoral process. It alleged that the electoral machinery was being “captured and manipulated” to give the ruling BJP an “unfair advantage”.
The allegations have been rejected by the Election Commission, which has maintained that its decisions on the SIR exercise were taken collectively by the three-member commission.
With PTI inputs
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