Delhi Police released Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday after detaining him for nearly two hours following a fresh round of INDIA bloc protests in the national capital. Meanwhile, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and several other Opposition leaders were detained and taken to Chhatrasal Stadium after being removed from the protest site. They were released shortly after 8 pm, according to an official quoted by IANS.
The march followed a strategy lunch hosted by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge at a restaurant in Janpath, where leaders resolved to escalate their campaign against the poll chief. “I have 45 FIRs against me. My goal is to have 100. I want 100 FIRs to be filed against me.
Every FIR is a medal for me,” he said.
On Tuesday, protests began with Opposition MPs trying to march from Parliament towards the Election Commission headquarters. Delhi Police registered an FIR against Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and others after a complaint alleging that they entered the Akashvani Bhavan premises without permission during Tuesday’s protest. He repeated his demand for CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and the CEC of damaging the electoral system. Those allegations have been rejected by the Election Commission and the BJP. Gandhi being carried by Delhi Police personnel and forcibly pushed into a bus, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra lying on the road clutching a copy of the Constitution, and Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal being tossed around by police personnel address one abiding concern among the supporters of the Congress: that the party does not know how to take the fight to the streets.
Rahul Gandhi said around 300 Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs had sought to meet the Election Commissioners on Tuesday and were prevented from doing so. Delhi Police said no prior permission had been sought for that march, and Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita was in force in New Delhi. Police detained around 260 protesters during the day, according to police accounts.
Police said a further investigation was underway. “So, our plan today is to go to the designated protest site, Jantar Mantar, and sit there again and tell the country that, for us, Gyanesh Kumar is not the legitimate Election Commissioner of the country,” he said.
Earlier reporting noted: The Rahul Gandhi show and the Congress’s alliance dilemma: Analysis The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s politics of resistance has found expression on the streets of central Delhi, as Opposition parties belonging to the see Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) have been carrying out back-to-back protests demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over allegations of vote chori (theft) and electoral manipulation. Earlier reporting noted: The protests have put the spotlight on mainstream Opposition parties , which were somewhat overshadowed by the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) during the anti-paper leak protests at Jantar Mantar that eventually led to the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan as Education Minister. Earlier reporting noted: The dramatic visuals of Mr.
