Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were briefly detained and released on Tuesday during their march to the Election Commission to demand the the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation.
On Tuesday, INDIA bloc MPs, including leaders of the Opposition Mallikarjun Khare and Rahul Gandhi, marched from the Parliament House complex towards the Election Commission. They were stopped by the police on Parliament Street near the NITI Aayog office, where they sat on a dharna. The Opposition MPs carried cutouts depicting Kumar in an RSS uniform and raised slogans including “BJP hai CEC hai”, “Vote chor, gaddi chhod” and “Democracy not for sale”.
Their protest was also joined by TMC MPs Mahua Moitra and Abhishek Banerjee.
Rahul and TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee had climbed atop a police barricade after security personnel blocked their way. Priyanka Gandhi was taken to an awaiting bus for detention.
After being released, the MPs entered the Akashvani Bhavan premises to reach headquarters after police prevented them from proceeding towards the poll panel's office. They were seen sitting under a tree.
The protest came after the Supreme Court on Monday refused to pass an interim order restraining Gyanesh Kumar from functioning over allegations that he took several decisions unilaterally despite objections from the two other election commissioners. The opposition MPs had questioned the security arrangements ahead of the march.
They cited the Supreme Court's observations on changes to Form 6, the statutory application for enrolment as a voter. The SC had clarified that it did not approve of any modified version of Form 6.
