A large crowd of demonstrators assembled at Jantar Mantar to voice their discontent against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar
A senior police officer said around 550 people were detained. In Delhi, the names of more than 47 lakh people were deleted during SIR and an additional 33 lakh received notices to explain ‘logical discrepancies’ in records. The protest had been announced by opposition parties and student groups on Gandhi Jayanti over the Election Commission’s handling of SIR of electoral rolls.
Even as protesters were pulled and dragged into buses, Delhi police said they did not manhandle anyone and cited the lack of permission for protests at the site and prohibitory orders for the detentions. Police said FIRs were being registered for alleged violation of prohibitory orders. EC has said that those who have found their names missing from the draft rolls can register as new voters after providing relevant documents. This happened twice,” said Deepanita, a PhD student who was detained along with Neha the first time.
Protesters demanded the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar amid reports of internal differences within the poll panel on key decisions which EC has denied. At noon, national president of All India Students’ Association (AISA) Neha Bora arrived at Jantar Mantar and a game of cat-and-mouse ensued between police and protesters. “Our friends were waiting a few hundred metres from the protest site. When police detained Neha and tried to take her away in a bus, they blocked its way and forced them to release her. She was referring to a month-long agitation led by Abhijeet Dipke and Sonam Wangchuck in July, which ended with the resignation of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan. “The biggest weapon that they have is fear.