The Indian National Congress on Tuesday shared a video of party MP and leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi entering the Akashwani Bhavan amid the march to the Election Commission office.
The video showed visuals of the Congress leader entering the Akashwani Bhawan complex, which is barely 100 metres away from the poll body office, despite the near closure of the gate.
However, Rahul entered the Akashvani Bhawan premises, whose back gate opens right in front of the ECI office. Rahul, along with Congress leaders Priyanka Gandhi, KC Venugopal and others, entered the Akashwani premises and staged a sit-in protest inside the complex itself. “All I want to do is meet the Chief Election Commissioner and tell him that he has done ‘vote chori’. “We represent crores of Indians. Why aren’t the Election Commissioners meeting us? When the opposition MPs were stopped from proceeding further mid-way through the march, Rahul had climbed atop a police barricade and waved the Tricolour. TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee and Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi had also climbed the barricades, even as protesters continued to shout slogans.
Earlier today, Rahul said at least 300 Opposition MPs had marched from Parliament to meet the Election Commissioners. Earlier reporting noted: More than 300 Opposition MPs participated in the march, Rahul said, with some of them, including Priyanka Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Trinamool Congress MPs Abhishek Banerjee and Derek O’Brien, also being briefly detained.
Three routes to the Election Commission office – from the Sansad Marg, Kundan Lal Sehgal Road and Mahadev Road – had been closed by security officials, according to the video. The Congress leaders, after entering the Akashwani Bhawan premises, sat there past sunset, with Rahul telling reporters he was “comfortable” there. I can continue to sit here,” he said, according to PTI. Following a standoff with the security personnel, the Lok Sabha LoP said, “If they don’t want us to sit here, give us some other site. Why is the police stopping and threatening us?” he said in a post on X. Speaking to reporters from inside the Akashvani complex, where the Opposition MPs were staging a sit-in, the Lok Sabha LoP said the INDIA bloc was not only “going to counter” the poll body but would “destroy them.
Earlier reporting noted: Rahul, along with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party MP Priyanka Gandhi, joined the march from the Parliament House complex. Election Commission officials on Tuesday said they had not received a request from any political party for a meeting While the Opposition has demanded a meeting with the CEC. Earlier reporting noted: Rahul Gandhi climbs barricades, waves Tricolour during Oppn march to ECI: ‘We are going to destroy them’ Congress MP and leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday climbed police barricades during the opposition INDIA bloc’s protest march to the Election Commission of India on Tuesday.
