Ok. So they weren’t actually there. But Congress MP Rahul Gandhi served up some Led Zeppelin spirit in an Instagram reel; the clip showed the Leader of the Opposition standing astride Delhi

Police’s yellow metal barricades, hands on hips while a sea of protesters swarmed. And as Gandhi waved from atop the barriers, Plant sang of ‘tides of war’ and ‘overlords’.

 

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A post shared by Rahul Gandhi (@rahulgandhi)

At 6.45 pm – three hours after it was posted – the reel had been viewed over 2.7 million times.

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And if you want to check out the full song (it’s a banger!) you can do so here:

But the day began with less hard rock and more political sloganeering; opposition MPs led by Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, as well as Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and the Trinamool Congress’ Abhishek Banerjee, set off on a march from parliament to the EC office.

The purpose? To confront CEC Kumar over allegations of irregularities in the conduct of the Special Intensive Revision of state/UT voter rolls. The substance of these allegations – that the EC helps the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party win elections – have been made frequently by Gandhi and other opposition MPs, though there was little by way of public response.

However, last month published an investigation that said two of India’s three Election Commissioners – Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi – had repeatedly objected to decisions related to the voter re-verification exercise, including ‘illegal’ changes to Form 6 and the push to centralise control of ECINET, the software that manages voter rolls.

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◆ More on this big story ◆

Rahul Gandhi says CEC Gyanesh Kumar abused powers, BJP calls remarks ‘full of lies’Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi said it “is now established beyond doubt that Gyanesh Kumar changed Form 6 illegally and unilaterally”.Read the full story →

Rahul Gandhi stands with ‘Gyanesh, it’s done bro’ placardCongress MP borrows scathing putdown first tweeted by Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke.Read the full story →

In 2006, Gyanesh Kumar was named in a corruption case. These are the detailsAt a time when he is under fire over the SIR process, the Keralam government has reopened a 2006 bribery case that prompted Kumar's resignation as PWD Secretary.Read the full story →

Multiple groups, moving crowds: Why CEC protest became a challenge for Delhi PoliceThe agitation has seen student activists, politicians and civil society members making repeated attempts to march towards ‘restricted areas’ in central Delhi.Read the full story →

After sexual harassment complaint, Delhi cop’s additional charge withheldThree women journalists have complained of alleged harassment during an October 3 protest near Jantar Mantar. One of them specifically named Delhi cop Vivek BhagatRead the full story →

The Express’ investigative reports prompted a furious response from the opposition and democracy activists, including the Abhijeet Dipke-founded Cockroach Janata Party, all of whom are now demanding Gyanesh Kumar resign as the CEC and the voter lists be rolled back.

On Tuesday afternoon those protests led to tense showdowns between Delhi Police and the protesters, with dozens of the latter group herded away into police buses and detained.

Both Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were also briefly detained.

She was sitting in a bus, parked outside Akashvani Bhavan – the headquarters of All India Radio – and Rahul was about to get in. Suddenly, they looked at each other and walked past the cops and into that compound. The move seemed off-script and the police were caught flat-footed.

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This sort of off-the-cuff thinking seems to have become part of Rahul Gandhi’s personal gameplan in cornering the government during public protests. Remember the impromptu sit-in outside Prime Minister Modi’s home in July to protest police violence against NEET protesters?

In fact, till they walked into Akashvani Bhavan, most Congress leaders said they thought the protest was over – squashed by the authorities who seemed better prepared this time than last, when the CJP protested at Jantar Mantar over the NEET-UG exam paper leak.

“We don’t know what happened. This was not part of the plan,” one of them said.

Clearly Rahul had a plan, though.