The national capital saw high drama on Tuesday as Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and several prominent INDIA bloc leaders staged a huge protest rally towards Nirvachan Sadan that ended with a sit-in after a long confrontation with the police.
Opposition politicians from the INDIA bloc held posters and raised slogans against Election Commission chief Ganesh Kumar, demanding his resignation following allegations of electoral manipulation, deletion of electoral rolls and conduct during recent poll revisions.
The two main opposition parties, DMK and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), distanced themselves from the India bloc's marches.
Opposition members gathered outside Parliament on Tuesday morning and marched towards Nirvachan Sadan, the headquarters of the Election Commission in the capital. Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha is currently sitting outside the Election Commission's office along with other MPs and has demanded a meeting with the Election Commissioner.
The confrontation quickly escalated when opposition lawmakers marched from the Parliament complex along a high-security corridor in New Delhi. Facing multi-tiered police barricades near the NITI Aayog office and Ashoka Road, the protest saw chaotic scenes as Rahul Gandhi scaled heavy iron barriers, waved the national flag and herded the protesters to move forward. Samajwadi Party MP Zia-ur-Rehman Barq and other senior leaders joined Gandhi on the barricades as Delhi Police scrambled to contain the surging crowd.
Unable to reach the Nirvachan Sadan, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi sat on the road next to the coalition leaders, launching an impromptu dharna. Speaking to reporters at the protest site, Rahul Gandhi accused election authorities of undermining the integrity of democracy and said the opposition would not back down in the fight against allegations of "vote theft".
Delhi police later detained several key opposition leaders and loaded them into detention buses. Surprisingly, the Gandhi siblings managed to get off near Akashwani Bhawan, tried to reach the headquarters again and staged another sit-in at the place. Senior Congress leaders, including Digvijaya Singh, Deepender Hooda, and Pawan Khera, gathered around the area, leading continuous sloganeering.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party strongly condemned the protest, accusing the opposition of trying to undermine democratic institutions.
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