Police broke up the march in Guwahati after the Congress delegation tried to march to the State CEO office, paving the way for a stand‑off between the demonstrators and security forces.
The protest, which began at Rajiv Bhawan, carried slogans like "Vote Chor, Gaddi Chhod" and "Gyanesh Kumar Murdabad," as Gaurav Gogoi accused the Election Commission of acting like the BJP’s IT cell and removing voters through the Special Intensive Revision exercise.
Gogoi said, "If you think people will fear police batons or bullets, you are gravely mistaken," and warned that the Congress would not relent until the Chief Election Commissioner was replaced.
A list of detained leaders surfaced: APCC President Gaurav Gogoi, AICC Secretary Manoj Chauhan, Seva Dal President Deep Bayan, and others such as Udit Bhanu Das, Bidisha Neog, and Ankur Raj Gogoi. Video footage showed the police hauling the leaders into a vehicle amid chants from the crowd.
The Assam government responded by saying it would review the situation, but did not comment on the arrests.
The Congress leadership announced that it would keep the agitation alive, demanding transparency in the Election Commission and safeguarding electoral rolls, while calling for a review of the SIR process that they say unfairly deletes voters.
One of the detained workers, a 32‑year‑old teacher from Jorhat, expressed hope that the protest would bring real change, saying, "We just want our votes counted fairly."