Congress workers staged protests in several states on Friday, with demonstrations reported in Delhi, Bihar, Assam, Punjab, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, demanding the resignation of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
In Delhi, party workers gathered at Jantar Mantar, where they raised slogans against Kumar as part of the Congress’s nationwide agitation. In Patna, Congress workers staged a half-kilometre march demanding Kumar’s dismissal and arrest. When protesters attempted to cross police barricades and march towards the Election Commission office, the Chandigarh Police used water cannons to stop them. Several Congress leaders and workers were later detained by the police. The Congress had marched from its state headquarters, Rajiv Bhawan, towards the Chief Electoral Officer’s office, where it planned to burn an effigy of the CEC. It’s working on the directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Our party’s stand is clear: CEC Gyanesh Kumar must resign.”
In Chandigarh, Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring led party leaders, MLAs and workers in a protest in Sector 17.
The protests come amid allegations by the opposition party that the Election Commission has been “compromised” and its demand that Kumar step down. In Assam, state Congress president Gaurav Gogoi and several senior party leaders were detained while attempting to break through police barricades during the protest, police said. Bihar Congress chief Rajesh Ram said, “It is clear that the EC is compromised.
