New Delhi, Sep 28 The Delhi Congress on Monday staged a protest demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation over alleged irregularities in the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Led by Delhi Congress president Devender Yadav, hundreds of party workers marched from the party office at Rajiv Bhawan towards the Election Commission of India office, but were stopped by police barricades. Several leaders, including Yadav, were detained and taken to a police station before being released, according to the party’s statement.
Visuals from the protest showed Congress workers wearing masks of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Kumar. One protester dressed in a formal suit wore a mask of Kumar, while two men seated beside him wore masks of election commissioners S S Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.
Another protester depicted Modi as a puppeteer with strings attached, alleging political control over the poll process.
The protest was attended by All India Congress Committee’s Delhi in-charge Qazi Nizamuddin and All India Mahila Congress president Alka Lamba, among other senior party leaders.
Yadav said the Congress would continue its agitation until Kumar resigned and was arrested, alleging that the SIR exercise had involved “vote theft” and malpractices. “Congress workers will continue their fight and demand the resignation of Gyanesh Kumar in all the districts and blocks till he resigns and goes to jail,” Yadav said.
He alleged that irregularities in the SIR process and objections raised by the two Election Commissioners to decisions taken by Kumar showed that the CEC was acting at the behest of the Modi government.
Yadav also alleged that voters, particularly those in JJ clusters and unauthorised colonies, had faced difficulties during the revision as they struggled to produce documents sought by poll authorities within the stipulated period.
The Congress has also alleged that discrepancies in computer-generated electoral data, including parents’ ages, spellings and addresses, could result from errors and should not lead to voters being deprived of their rights.
Party members alleged that the SIR process had exposed attempts to undermine the electoral process and said the Congress would continue its protests across the country.
“The Congress and the country will not tolerate BJP’s vote theft to steal elections,” a protester said, alleging that objections raised by the two Election Commissioners had vindicated Rahul Gandhi’s earlier allegations regarding the poll process.
Lamba alleged that the BJP-led government had retained power through “vote theft” and accused Kumar of facilitating it.
“It has become public knowledge in the country that the BJP central government retained power solely due to vote theft, something Kumar has been doing and continues to do,” Lamba said.
She also criticised the BJP leaders who demanded that Kumar be awarded the Bharat Ratna, saying such demands were an insult to recipients of the country’s highest civilian honour.
The Congress has said it would continue its agitation against Kumar and the SIR process, including protests at the district and block levels.
Police and paramilitary personnel were deployed along the route, with barricades and detention buses placed to prevent the protesters from reaching Nirvachan Sadan.
(PTI News)
