INDIA bloc march to EC stopped near NITI Aayog, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra detained
MPs of the INDIA bloc marched from Parliament to the Election Commission headquarters on Tuesday, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The Delhi Police stopped the march in front of the NITI Aayog office on Parliament Street. Leaders then sat on the road in protest.
Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee climbed atop a police barricade after security personnel blocked the route. Visuals showed Rahul waving the tricolour. The New Indian Express reported that Rahul and Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were detained after they were stopped from marching.
Rahul asked Kumar to resign in a post on X. "Gyanesh, it's done, bro. Time to resign," he wrote. Opposition MPs carried cutouts showing Kumar in an RSS uniform and raised slogans, including "Vote chor, gaddi chhod" and "Democracy not for sale", The New Indian Express reported.
The protest is over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The opposition has alleged irregularities in the exercise and demanded more transparency on changes to voter rolls and enrolment procedures. PTI reported that before the march, MPs cited the Supreme Court's observations on Form 6, the statutory application for voter enrolment.
The Supreme Court said on Monday that it had not approved any modified version of Form 6. It said it would examine the Commission's records to see whether changes were made and who authorised them. The Commission had said in a statement on September 26 that the declaration attached to Form 6 for the SIR had been upheld by the court, PTI reported.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule, TMC's Derek O'Brien, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and CPI(M)'s John Brittas joined the march. AAP and DMK stayed away, NewsDrum reported.
Kharge said the government was stripping away the rights of the people and alleged that the Commission was acting at its behest. Akhilesh Yadav said the poll body had committed "dishonesty" and challenged Kumar to explain alleged irregularities in Uttar Pradesh's electoral rolls. Congress MP Dharamveer Gandhi alleged that about 13 crore names had been deleted from the rolls, NewsDrum reported.
About 4,000 personnel from the Delhi Police and the Central Armed Police Forces were deployed, with multi-layered barricades along the route, Mathrubhumi English reported. NewsDrum put the deployment at more than 3,000 police personnel. Police said they had not granted permission for the march, and prohibitory orders under Section 163 remain in force in the New Delhi district.
The protest call followed a meeting of 19 opposition parties on September 30, PTI reported. The bloc has said its leaders will meet President Droupadi Murmu to raise their concerns over the exercise. The Commission has rejected suggestions of a split in its three-member body and said decisions on the SIR were taken unanimously.
Telangana BJP president Ramchander Rao accused the Congress of trying to create an "atmosphere of anarchy" by discrediting constitutional institutions. He told ANI on Monday that the party was spreading misinformation about the SIR for political benefit. Asianet Newsable reported his remarks.
Mathrubhumi English, citing a report in The Indian Express, said nine FIRs had been registered over recent protests in the capital. Eighteen people were arrested and more than 300 were detained and later released.
(With inputs from PTI)
