Pedestrian movement towards the Election Commission of India offices in central Delhi was restricted as opposition parties of the INDIA bloc combine marched towards Jantar Mantar on Wednesday to demand
the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the voter roll revision process and alleged rigging.
According to sources speaking to News18, roads leading towards the Election Commission of India and Jantar Mantar have been barricaded. Police have put up multiple layers of barricading, and people were not being allowed to walk towards the poll body’s headquarters. Sources said massive barricades were also placed on Meridian Road.
The protesting MPs were seen sitting in buses, while Delhi Police blocked roads leading towards Jantar Mantar and the EC headquarters, including Ashoka Road and Sansad Marg, as part of security arrangements.
The developments come a day after their eight-hour dharna to press for a meeting with the election commissioners.
A large number of MPs of opposition parties got together for lunch at a restaurant at Janpath in central Delhi hosted by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, after which they boarded buses and headed towards Jantar Mantar, a designated protest site in central Delhi.
“Today, we feel that we will protest at Jantar Mantar, which is a designated protest site, and tell the country that for us Gyanesh Kumar is not a legitimate Election Commissioner,” Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi told reporters.
The opposition MPs said they were all united in their fight against this government and would raise people’s issues and “how their rights were being taken away” by protesting on the streets.
“As I said yesterday, around 300 Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs wanted to meet Election Commissioners but they did not meet us. They told us that we cannot protest here,” Gandhi said.
The dharna at the Akashvani Bhawan premises was held on Tuesday after police thwarted a march by opposition MPs to the Election Commission office.
