New Delhi, Oct 6 (IANS): Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday climbed a police barricade and waved the national flag as INDIA bloc MPs marched towards the Election Commission of India (ECI) headquarters, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.
Rahul Gandhi and his sister, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, were briefly detained by the police during the protest, TV channels reported.
Along with them, many Congress leaders and MPs were being loaded into buses. Two buses are said to be at the demonstration site outside the EC office. Many Opposition Parliamentarians were being packed into buses and taken away from the protest site.
Gandhi made his way through a large gathering of Opposition leaders and workers who had assembled for the protest and proceeded towards Nirvachan Sadan, the ECI headquarters. As he moved forward, protesters raised slogans against CEC Gyanesh Kumar and demanded his resignation over alleged irregularities in the voter roll revision exercise, Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
The Opposition MPs had begun their march from the Parliament complex, carrying Tricolours and banners carrying the message ‘Save Democracy’. They raised slogans against the CEC as they headed towards the poll panel’s office.
Gandhi was stopped by several layers of police barricades while attempting to proceed towards the ECI headquarters. He subsequently climbed onto one of the barricades and waved the Tricolour, drawing loud slogans of support from the INDIA bloc leaders and workers gathered at the spot.
He sat on a dharna after he was stopped from marching towards the poll body’s office. Later, he climbed on the police barricade and waved the national flag.
Earlier, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said the Opposition would continue its fight to “save democracy” and asserted that the INDIA bloc was determined to continue its protest.
“This is a fight; we will keep fighting, and we will throw these thieves out. We are fully determined to save democracy, and we are fighting for democracy and nothing else,” Kharge said.
Congress MP Pramod Tiwari said, “The way 13 crore votes have been deleted, the way vote theft has taken place, and the way Form 6 has been misused, after all this, Gyanesh Kumar’s place is not in the Election Commission office, but in Tihar Jail…”
