Several Youth Congress and NSUI leaders, including Indian Youth Congress president Uday Bhanu Chib, were detained by Delhi Police on Tuesday during protests outside Akashvani Bhavan against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Chib alleged that IYC workers, including female office bearers, were injured during the protest and accused the Delhi Police of using force against demonstrators.
“Violence is being committed against those who are peacefully protesting and trying to save the democracy. Our female office bearers have suffered injuries; such is the behaviour of Delhi Police. The violence against journalists and students will not be tolerated. This shows that PM Modi and Shah are scared and trying to save Gyanesh Kumar,” he said.
The detentions came amid a larger Opposition protest over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Earlier in the day, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and other INDIA bloc leaders marched towards Nirvachan Sadan but were stopped by barricades.
Gandhi demanded that the Election Commissioners meet Opposition leaders and answer their questions regarding the SIR exercise.
He said, “300 opposition MPs were removed from there, so I came here and sat. We just want to meet Gyanesh Kumar and the other election commissioners. We are all opposition MPs from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, and we just want to talk to them. Don’t know why the Election Commission does not want to talk to us. Crores of people have voted for us. We just want to ask questions, but they don’t want to answer.”
Gandhi also targeted the Centre and CEC Gyanesh Kumar, saying, “The democracy is finished. Narendra Modi ji, Amit Shah, Mohan Bhagwat and Gyanesh Kumar have finished the vote. The nation has understood. In a way, Narendra Modi ji and Amit Shah ji have hijacked the country. We are trying to save the constitution… I am asking the police, if you want to remove me from here, just tell me where in the country I can sit.”
The protest is part of the Opposition's broader "Save Democracy" campaign, under which INDIA bloc leaders have been holding demonstrations and public programmes against the Election Commission.
The latest controversy stems from a report by The Indian Express, which claimed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi raised 14 objections during the SIR exercise. The ECI has maintained that the decisions were unanimous.