INDIA bloc march: ECI says no political party requested a meeting till 4 pm

Hours after the INDIA bloc MPs marched to the Election Commission of India (ECI) and staged a day-long protest, the poll panel on Tuesday evening said no political party had sought an appointment through its authorised representatives for a meeting with it until 4 pm.

The Commission said the Delhi Police later informed it that a delegation of MPs led by Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi wished to meet the poll panel and submit a memorandum.

The Commission said it learnt through the media that during the march of certain political parties towards the Commission headquarters, some MPs wanted to meet the poll panel along with their delegation.

“Till 4 pm today, no political party, through its representatives, had sought an appointment for a meeting with the Election Commission,” it said in a statement. Around 4 pm, the Commission received information from Delhi Police that a delegation of MPs led by Gandhi wanted to meet it and submit a memorandum.

The ECI said it had laid down a procedure for meetings with political parties in 2025, under which a delegation of a political party or a joint delegation of several parties seeks an appointment through its duly authorised representative. “The meeting is thereafter held at a time mutually agreed upon by both sides,” the poll panel said.

When the Commission was considering the proposal for a meeting with the MPs, it was informed by the Delhi Police that the delegation comprised 240 parliamentarians and that the proposed venue was the Parliament House Annexe.

“The Election Commission considered this request unusual and therefore, it could not be accepted, as, in accordance with ECI protocol, such meetings are held only on the premises of the Election Commission of India,” it said.

The Commission said it proposed sending its senior-most officer on duty to the meeting venue to receive the memorandum, which itself would have been an unprecedented step, but the MPs also declined the offer.

The Commission said it respected parliamentary and democratic processes as well as its own protocols and conventions, which are of utmost importance.

“Any political party may, at any time, request a meeting with the Election Commission; and the Commission, keeping in view the suitability of time, schedules a date and time for the meeting. This is a regular practice,” it said.

High drama unfolded during the INDIA bloc’s protest march from Parliament Street to the Election Commission headquarters earlier in the day, as Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, along with others, entered the Akashvani Bhawan premises in a bid to reach the poll body’s office.  Rahul Gandhi occupied the centre stage of the opposition’s street protest, forcing a total lockdown of Parliament Street.

At one point, buoyed by cheers of onlookers, he climbed atop multi-layer steel barricades, stood on them and waved the tricolour, before slipping through the police cordons to sneak into the premises of All India Radio.

Until just before sunset, he remained holed up inside the AIR compound in a defiant standoff with the police, who largely remained passively resolute in preventing the protesters from reaching the Election Commission office.

Several opposition leaders, including Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Trinamool Congress MPs Abhishek Banerjee and Derek O’Brien, were detained after police stopped the march.

The march was the latest in a series of protests by politicians and civil activists calling for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation after a September 25 Indian Express report suggested irregularities in the SIR process and differences among the election commissioners.