Tensions rose in the national capital on Tuesday after police stopped an INDIA bloc march from Parliament to the Election Commission of India (ECI), with Opposition MPs demanding a meeting with the poll panel and the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar after reports of dissent within the Election Commissioners and a row over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
Police detained Congress workers who had entered Akashvani Bhavan, where prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) were in force following the march to the EC office.
Police stop protesters at Akashvani Bhavan
A police official ordered Indian Youth Congress and NSUI workers gathered outside Akashvani Bhavan to vacate the area, saying that any assembly there was illegal. The official warned that those who failed to comply would be detained.
The detained Congress workers were later brought out of the premises by police in a bus.
Tensions also escalated outside the ECI headquarters as Congress workers and INDIA bloc supporters attempted to enter Nirvachan Sadan. The attempt to breach the poll body’s gates led to scuffles with security personnel.
Rahul Gandhi questions police action
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi questioned the Election Commission and police over the decision to prevent Congress and other Opposition representatives from meeting the poll panel’s officials.
“More than 300 Opposition MPs marched from Parliament to the Election Commission today to meet the Election Commissioners. We represent crores of Indians. – Why aren’t the Election Commissioners meeting us? – Why is the police stopping and threatening us?”, he said.
Rahul Gandhi, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other senior parliamentarians staged a sit-in inside the nearby Akashvani complex, around 100 metres from the Election Commission office.
Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were stopped from entering the Election Commission office complex after the Opposition march from Parliament to Nirvachan Sadan.
‘Modi is scared’: Pawan Khera accuses government of fear
Congress leader Pawan Khera criticised the police deployment that prevented the Opposition leadership from submitting a formal memorandum, saying the government was gripped by fear.
“The Election Commission is right next door, but they are not allowing the country’s Leader of the Opposition to go; he has been stopped. So you can see, Rahul Gandhi ji, Priyanka Gandhi ji, and all of us are sitting here on a dharna inside Akashvani. The Election Commission is hardly 100 meters from here,” Khera told reporters.
Taking aim at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Khera said, “The Leader of the Opposition wants to go there and submit his memorandum, but he is being stopped, and everyone is being stopped very ruthlessly. This is the condition of this country’s democracy in the national capital. We understand that Narendra Modi is scared, and he should be; given the kind of misdeeds they have committed, they should be afraid fear is justified.”
CPI(M) MPs among those detained
CPI(M) MPs, including John Brittas and V Sivadasan, were also detained during the protest.
CPI MP P Sandosh Kumar said the Opposition had faced a heavy security presence from the outset.
“We were restrained from moving forward from the very beginning. There was a huge deployment of security personnel, CRPF, RAF, and other forces. We tried our level best to move forward. We will intensify the movement. Detention is not the solution; only resignation is. We are all working unitedly, and there is no separate strategy. Even BJD joined us today beyond the limits of the INDIA alliance,” he said.
The INDIA bloc protest was aimed at the Election Commission, with demonstrators raising slogans demanding the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar.
(with ANI inputs)
