Police detained several senior Telangana Congress leaders on Thursday, October 8, 2026, during a march to Lok Bhavan in Hyderabad. The group demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged electoral roll irregularities. Ministers said, "The lack of transparency in the ECI's functioning was raised long ago."
Several senior Telangana Congress leaders, including Ministers Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, Ponnam Prabhakar, D. Sridhar Babu, Mohd Azharuddin, Adluri Laxman Kumar and Vakiti Srihari and TPCC president B. Mahesh Kumar Goud, were detained by the police on Thursday (October 8, 2026) when they attempted to march towards Lok Bhavan in Hyderabad demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The Ministers continued their protest at the Police Station with large number of activists joining them.
The 'Chalo Lok Bhavan' protest was part of the INDIA bloc's 'Save Democracy' campaign against alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) and its political associates Communist Party of India (CPI), Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) and other parties participated.
Congress activists and supporters of various political parties gathered at the Indira Gandhi statue near Necklace Road carrying party flags and as they moved towards to Lok Bhavan, they raised slogans against the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The police barricaded the route to Lok Bhavan deploying a large number of police personnel to prevent the agitating leaders and cadre from reaching Lok Bhavan. Some of the Congress leaders tried to jump the barricades raising slogans but were prevented by the police. They staged a protest at the spot before being detained and shifted to the Panjagutta Police Station.
Ministers Ponguleti and Ponnam Prabhakar spoke to the reporters and said the lack of transparency in the Election Commission of India's (ECI) functioning was raised by Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi long ago and the recent developments proved them right. They reminded that the right to vote was a Constitutional right and the ECI instead of protecting it was removing voters.
Stating that it was high time the public confidence in the ECI and the election process was restored, The Ministers demanded the resignation of Mr. Gyanesh Kumar.
The protests disrupted traffic on the stretch with vehicles piling up from Khairatabad to Secretariat and towards Panjagutta on the other side.
CPI MLA Kunnamneni Sambasiva Rao, Telangana Jana Samithi president and MLC Prof. Kodandaram, CPI(M) State secretary John Wesley and leaders of other INDIA bloc parties joined the protests.