Agencies | New Delhi:
Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday staged a protest inside the Akashvani Bhavan premises, demanding a meeting with the Election Commissioners and alleging that Opposition MPs had been “disrespected”.
Gandhi accused the Election Commission of failing to hear the concerns of Opposition leaders and alleged that the poll panel had “disrespected” the voice of the people by refusing to meet MPs. He demanded that the Election Commissioners meet Opposition leaders and respond to allegations of “vote theft”.
“The MPs will meet the Election Commissioners; they will have to meet us. We just want to meet the Election Commissioners, ask questions and tell them that they have done vote theft,” Gandhi said.
Gandhi said the Opposition had no objection to continuing the demonstration at the venue, but added that the protesters would move if the Delhi Police provided them with another designated location.
“We don’t have any problem with protesting here. We will continue our protests here. If they (Delhi Police) are uncomfortable with us protesting here, they can provide us with another place to protest. The Constitution allows us to lodge a protest,” he said.
March to EC office halted
The protest was part of the Congress-led Opposition campaign over alleged irregularities in the electoral process. Gandhi, accompanied by Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and several Opposition leaders, staged a sit-in outside Akashvani Bhavan after police stopped their march towards the Election Commission office.
The demonstration began around 10 am after the march, which had started from Parliament House, was halted. Opposition MPs subsequently gathered on the road outside Akashvani Bhavan, located around 200 metres from the Election Commission office, resulting in the closure of Parliament Street.
Several Opposition leaders, including Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Trinamool Congress leaders Abhishek Banerjee and Derek O’Brien, and CPI(M) MP John Brittas, were detained by police. They were taken away in buses and later released.
The Congress and its Opposition allies have repeatedly raised allegations of “vote theft” and called for greater transparency in the electoral process. The Election Commission has rejected allegations of wrongdoing and maintained that electoral processes are conducted in accordance with established rules.
BJP criticises protest
The protest drew criticism from the BJP, which accused the Opposition of targeting constitutional institutions over electoral setbacks.
Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan alleged that the INDIA bloc’s march was an attempt to “vent their frustration” over electoral defeats by making allegations against constitutional bodies and undermining their credibility.
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra also criticised Gandhi, alleging that he was attempting to create “confusion” and advance his political interests by misrepresenting the Supreme Court’s position.
Another BJP spokesperson, Sudhanshu Trivedi, questioned the Opposition’s demand for voting rights without verification of voters categorised as “absent, shifted, dead and duplicate”, describing the protest as “theatrics on the streets”.
