Hundreds of BJP workers on Thursday took out a protest march to the Election Commission (EC) against the denial of permission for Narendra Modi’s rally in Varanasi as Delhi Police imposed prohibitory orders around the poll panel’s complex here in order to stop the march. BJP workers, led by leaders Venkaiah Naidu, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Ravi Shankar Prasad, took out a protest march from Delhi BJP office to the headquarters of the Election Commission. Section 144 of CrPC restricting gathering of people was imposed around the Election Commission complex and BJP activists were stopped at the nearby All India Radio (AIR) building and prevented from going towards the Commission. later, a delegation of six BJP leaders led by Naidu, met Chief Election Commissioner VS Sampath and demanded the immediate transfer of Varanasi’s Returning Officer (RO).
Naidu along with Naqvi, Prasad and Delhi leaders Vijay Malhotra, Harsh Vardhan and Meenakshi lekhi, were part of the delegation. “There is political bias and discrimination against the BJP on many occasions, including during the last polling, which has lowered the prestige of the Election Commission. This has resulted in tarnishing the image of the EC. By holding out this march for justice, the BJP has lodged its strong resentment and opposition to the EC not acting in transparent, impartial manner and as per the Constitution,” the BJP memorandum to EC alleged. They also demanded that the EC should immediately take serious note of the ‘biased’ and ‘discriminatory’ attitude of the Varanasi Returning Officer and remove him immediately.
After meeting the EC officials, Naidu accused the electoral officer of Varanasi of acting under political pressure and said until Varanasi’s Electoral Officer is transferred, fair election could not be conducted there.
“Every body wants Modi to become the Prime Minister. They (Varanasi administration) are trying to prevent Modi from becoming PM, but they would not succeed. As we cannot stop the sunrise, Modi also cannot be prevented from becoming PM of this country,” he added.