New Delhi, 07 October—A day after the high-voltage standoff with Delhi Police with detentions of Gandhi siblings yesterday, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi today led INDIA bloc MPs to go to Jantar Mantar and stage a protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged “vote chori” and SIR irregularities.
The decision was taken after Opposition MPs gathered for lunch at Sagar Ratna on Janpath, where Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge hosted the leaders to discuss the next course of action.
The MPs later boarded buses for Jantar Mantar, located a little over a kilometre from the restaurant, as the Opposition sought to keep its campaign against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar alive.
Speaking to reporters after attending a lunch hosted by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge for Opposition MPs, Rahul Gandhi said, “As I said yesterday, approximately 300 MPs wanted to meet the Chief Election Commissioner, but they were told that we could not hold a protest there. So, today, our plan is to go to the designated protest site, Jantar Mantar, and sit there together once again, and tell the country that, for us, Gyanesh Kumar is not the legitimate Election Commissioner of the country.”
The Congress leader further accused the ruling BJP and CEC Kumar of destroying democracy in India. “As I said yesterday, those who have done this are traitors to the country, and we will take action against them. I am telling you right now: Gyanesh Kumar will have to resign.”
A bus carrying the Opposition MPs was reportedly headed towards Jantar Mantar, the designated protest site in the national capital.
Security personnel barricaded the stretch outside the Shangri-La Hotel on the Ashoka Road-Jantar Mantar route.
Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Mallikarjun Kharge got off the bus after the barricades halted their movement. The leaders were stopped by the police from marching towards Jantar Mantar, while some protesters were also detained
Earlier on Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi, his sister Priyanka Gandhi, Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav and several other Opposition MPs were detained by the Delhi Police during their march to the Election Commission.
As the march was stopped by the police and the protest looked all but over, Rahul and Priyanka, along with several other Congress leaders, took the Delhi Police by surprise and went to the Akashvani Bhavan, a building adjacent to the Election Commission of India.
The Congress leaders sat on a dharna under a banyan tree inside the Akashvani Bhavan building and refused to leave until CEC Kumar and two Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi agreed to meet them.
However, the Delhi Police forcefully removed Gandhi and others and detained them briefly.
Later, an FIR was also registered against Rahul Gandhi for forcibly entering the Akashvani Bhavan.
When asked about the FIR, he said, “I have 45 FIRs against me. My goal is to have 100. I want 100 FIRs to be registered against me. Every FIR is a medal for me”.
Veteran Journalist and Political Commentator
