CJP in Mumbai, AAP, Left leaders in Delhi: Protests against EC, Gyanesh Kumar - The Indian Express
Delhi Police detained around 700 people from Jantar Mantar Friday afternoon as protests against the Election Commission – and poll panel chief Gyanesh Kumar – kicked off.
Ex-Delhi Chief Minister Atishi and her Aam Aadmi Party colleagues, including former minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, and activists Neha Bora, Yogendra Yadav, and Aishe Ghosh were among those detained, the Express has been told. Left leaders, including Brinda Karat, were also detained by the cops.
Inquilab Zindabad! pic.twitter.com/VDa0nLNNPh
On Thursday Delhi Police had refused permission for this protest.
The cops released a statement warning against gatherings of five or more people or crowds chanting and sloganeering, prompting criticism over stifling of protests by the authorities.
In a video message shared before the protest, Bharadwaj said, “Protesting is our democratic right. But the police are telling us permission for the demonstration has not been granted… even though six days ago AAP applied for permission here for a peaceful demonstration.”
India Youth Congress chief Uday Bhanu Chib announced plans to gherao the EC office.
“We are protesting because the Election Commission is responsible for protecting the sanctity of every vote. When questions are being raised within the Commission itself over decisions concerning electoral rolls, the country deserves answers and accountability,” he said.
Delhi Police were seen picking up people who gathered in groups of 10 or more at a single location and moving them away from the protest sites in buses. They were taken to the Badarpur police station and the Outer North Delhi police stations, among other locations.
The centre of the protest is now around Janpath, where dozens of people are still gathering. Police have stopped protesters from moving to Parliament and the Jantar Mantar area.
Meanwhile, Delhi Metro temporarily closed entry and exit at 12 stations in central Delhi, including Rajiv Chowk, Central Secretariat and Jantar Mantar, as part of its security arrangements. Internet services were also suspended at the protest site and in nearby areas.
Mumbai, meanwhile, awaits protests by the Abhijeet Dipke-started Cockroach Janta Party – a pressure group that led protests at Jantar Mantar in July to force then-Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to resign over leaked NEET-UG question papers.
The CJP is expected to kick off a ‘jail bharo andolan’ from the city’s Shivaji Park after Mumbai Police denied permission to gather for a protest against the EC and Gyanesh Kumar.
Earlier Dipke was asked why he chose Mumbai as the setting for this protest.
He pointed to the 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Maharashtra, in which the Bharatiya Janata Party was beaten in the first and then dominated the second, a dramatic upturn in fortunes the opposition has said suggests voter fraud and manipulation.
“In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, BJP won only nine of 48 seats. But in the Assembly election six months later, the scenario changed altogether. How did this change happen?” he asked.
“It is in this context that we have chosen to start the agitation from Mumbai.”
Both sets of protests have been triggered by an Indian Express report into apparent discord between the three-member Election Commission.
A detailed investigation showed that two of the three – Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi – had objected 14 times in 10 months to the Special Intensive Revision process, including ‘illegal’ modifications to Form 6 (for new voters) and the centralisation of ECINET – the EC’s voter list software.
