INDIA bloc leaders on Sunday moved in an open canter from the Minto Road-Connaught Place junction towards the Ramlila Maidan where they will hold a rally, scaling up their agitation against alleged“vote chori” and to press for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation. Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, TMC’s Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee, CPI(M)’s MA Baby, CPI’s D Raja, CPI(ML) Liberation General SecretaryDipankar Bhattacharya, JKNC’s Frooq Abdullah, PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti, among others, reached Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence, from where they proceeded to Minto Road in open vehicles. From there, along with other leaders, they slowly moved towards Ramlila Maidan under the ‘Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao’ march, with a crowd of supporters and workers walking alongside. Amid a sea of flags and banners against Kumar and the Modi Government over the issue of “vote chori”, the procession made its way slowly from the Minto Road-Connaught Place junction. Crowd swelled at the protest venue of Ramlila Maidan at around 1:30 PM, with supporters and party workers of the INDIA bloc parties, as well as their youth and student organisations, displaying placards and raising slogans against the SIR exerciseand demanding the resignation of Kumar. Referring to the large turnout, Gandhi said, “This is not the voice of a political party or leaders but the voice of youth, farmers, labourers, and it is declaring that ‘we will not let democracy and Constitution be destroyed in India’”. “No matter how much power and money you have, you are not bigger than the Constitution,” the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said, hitting out at the Government. Rahul Gandhi on Sunday alleged that the BJP had ‘forcibly’ shut the shops at Connaught Place, and asserted that the country is watching how the ruling party is causing loss to the shopkeepers.

 

At least 100 students were stopped and detained by Delhi Police on Minto Road on Sunday while they were marching towards Connaught Place to protest against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday alleged that several BJP Governments in the country, including at the Centre, were formed on ‘stolen’ mandate and said that it was essential to remove Prime Minister Narendra Modi from power in order to save democracy. Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Sunday extended her support to the CJP leadership and Gen Z activists at the INDIA bloc rally here, as she accused the BJP of manipulating elections and using the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise to target Opposition-ruled states. Addressing the gathering at Ramlila Maidan, Banerjee said all opposition parties and sections of society must come together to fight the BJP and protect democracy. Targeting Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, she asked, “Vanish Kumar ji, when will you vanish? We are waiting.” She used a popular nursery rhyme and modified it into a song against the poll panel: “Vote chori, yes papa; loktantra chori, yes papa; loot kiya BJP papa; who is behind the curtain, BJP papa.” Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday said the Ramlila Maidan has turned into the ‘Haldighati of democracy’ with a massive turnout of people and asserted that this is indicative of change that is in the offing, as he asserted that those who came to power at the Centre through Uttar Pradesh will also exit from there. RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Sunday likened the fight against alleged ‘vote chori’ to the epic Mahabharata, describing it as a battle between the country’s voters and ‘cheaters’. “You know who was Shakuni...Shakuni is playing his game, and we have to fight in Kurukshetra. When Shakuni rolled the dice, he rigged it. Everyone knows who is Shakuni...Gyanu (Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar) is Modi’s ‘namoona (minion)’. He should be tried for treason and jailed so that no one dares to trample democracy in future,” Yadav said. Calling the government a ‘do numbari sarkar’, he labelled Prime Minister Modi as a ‘dus numbari PM’.