Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, along with several other Opposition leaders, were detained by Delhi Police on Tuesday after a prolonged protest at Akashvani Bhawan in New Delhi. The action came after INDIA bloc leaders were stopped while marching towards the Election Commission headquarters, where they were seeking the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
NEW DELHI: Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, along with several other Opposition leaders, were detained by Delhi Police on Tuesday after a prolonged protest at Akashvani Bhawan in New Delhi. The action came after INDIA bloc leaders were stopped while marching towards the Election Commission headquarters, where they were seeking the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The Opposition leaders had staged a sit-in inside the Akashvani Bhawan premises after police barricades prevented them from proceeding towards the poll panel’s office. Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi were among those who remained at the site for several hours, while leaders including Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Trinamool Congress MPs Derek O’Brien and Abhishek Banerjee were also detained during the protest. The demonstrators raised concerns over the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and demanded action from the poll body.
The protest intensified as police moved to clear the premises after the nearly nine-hour sit-in. The Opposition has alleged irregularities in the voter-list revision process and questioned the functioning of the Election Commission, while the poll body has rejected suggestions of wrongdoing and maintained that decisions related to the SIR were taken unanimously. The developments came a day after the Supreme Court indicated that it would examine records concerning the electoral-roll revision process and the changes associated with Form 6.