A massive drama unfolded in Delhi on Tuesday as INDIA bloc MPs led a march to Akashvani Bhavan in a bid to enter the Election Commission of India (ECI)’s office. The MPs demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, whom they have accused of facilitating alleged ‘vote theft’.
Notably, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) is also set to join the INDIA bloc’s stir against the CEC. Rahul Gandhi also said that over 300 Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs led a march from the Parliament today and only wanted to meet Gyanesh and other ECs.
The party’s Parliamentary Party leader in the Rajya Sabha Manas Mangaraj said the decision was taken at the direction of party president Naveen Patnaik. “As directed by our party president Patnaik, oor MPs will participate in the protest march,” Mangaraj said, as quoted by news agency ANI. 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, according to PTI .
Earlier reporting noted: TMC leaders Abhishek Banerjee, Derek O Brien, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and CPI (M) leader John Brittas were among those who took part in the march Earlier reporting noted: Heavy security deployment and barricading had been put in place in and around Parliament and the Election Commission headquarters ahead of the march. Earlier reporting noted: ‘Gyanesh, it’s done bro, time to resign’: INDIA bloc MPs stage sit-in after march to ECI stopped INDIA bloc MPs, including Leaders of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, on Tuesday marched from the Parliament House complex towards the Election Commission of India but were stopped by police on Parliament Street, where they sat on a dharna demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation.
He also slammed the opposition parties for “theatrics on the streets”, according to news agency PTI.
Follow live updates here . The BJP also countered allegations, saying the march to the EC office was yet another attempt by the Congress and its allies to create anarchy and relaunch Rahul Gandhi.
In a media interaction, Rahul Gandhi said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat hijacked the nation through ‘vote chori’, and Gyanesh Kumar helped them. The BJP claimed that Congress had become “intoxicated” by its defeat in several states and questioned its alleged support for giving voting rights to “absent, shifted, dead and duplicate voters” without verification. “I am saying it again—what is the Congress’s intention behind giving voting rights to absent, shifted, dead and duplicate voters without any verification, and whom does it want to benefit,” BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi asked on Tuesday.
