MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: Protests demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged election irregularities continued on Sunday, with opposition parties taking to the streets in Mumbai and student groups agitating in New Delhi.
In Mumbai, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, the MNS chief Raj Thackeray, NCP (SP) state president Jayant Patil and Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat, with thousands of people, participated in the ‘Virat Garjana Morcha’ which culminated in a rally. Uddhav said the country is fighting its second independence battle against the tyranny and authoritarian conduct of the people in power.
“We are fighting to get real freedom to India that has been muzzled by the BJP through the Election Commission of India and other independent institutions that are no longer free and fair... 13 crore voters were denied the right to vote just so the BJP could win state elections in Maharashtra, West Bengal comfortably, even though there is palpable anger against the incumbent government,” he alleged, referring to deletions in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. MNS chief Raj Thackeray said the SIR should be cancelled and voting done by ballot papers only.
In the capital, members of Congress, AAP, various student organisations, and civil society groups held multiple protests seeking Kumar’s resignation, even as police fortified central Delhi to prevent them from reaching Jantar Mantar. Scores of activists, including AISA national president Neha Bora, and AAP’s Delhi chief Saurabh Bhardwaj were detained and later released.
AISA members protested for the third consecutive day, with a brief clash with police occuring as they tried to cross barricades at Shangri-La hexagon. Bora attempted to climb over a barricade while police tried to stop her. She was detained in a police car amid stiff resistance from the protesters, with many lying in front of the car, and several women climbing atop the vehicle to prevent it from moving forward. Police were forced to drive the car in reverse and take Bora away.
Vigilance probe in Keralam
Keralam Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala has ordered a Vigilance probe into a 2006 project and the death of a Malaysian engineer linked to it. CEC Gyanesh Kumar was the PWD secy in the state at the time