NEW DELHI: Several opposition leaders, including Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Trinamool Congress MPs Abhishek Banerjee and Derek O'Brien, were detained on Tuesday while leading a march from Parliament Street to the Election Commission headquarters in Delhi. Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra sat in protest inside Akashvani Bhawan premises.
The political leaders were stopped by security personnel on Parliament Street in front of the Akashvani Bhawan and the Niti Aayog office during their march to demand Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation.
After being prevented from proceeding further, they sat on the road in protest, while Gandhi and Banerjee climbed atop a police barricade, and Vadra was taken to a waiting bus after being detained.
While several leaders were detained and taken away in buses, Vadra, however, soon alighted and joined Gandhi at the Akashvani gate, where both sat in protest under a tree along with several other Congress leaders.
They also refused police personnel’s request to vacate the premises, and said they wanted to go to the Election Commission office.
The area outside the Akashvani Bhawan was filled with a huge number of police personnel and paramilitary forces, who detained several protesters, who were taken away in buses from the spot.
Opposition MPs were carrying cutouts depicting Kumar in an RSS uniform and raised slogans, including 'BJP hi CEC hai', 'Vote chor, gaddi chhod' and 'Democracy not for sale'. Gandhi held a cutout with the caption, “Gyanesh it’s done, bro!”
Besides heavy security deployment, a large number of barricades had been put in place in and around Parliament and the Election Commission headquarters ahead of the march, and later in front of the Akashvani Bhawan.
The MPs gathered at Parliament's Makar Dwar before setting off towards Nirvachan Sadan, the Election Commission headquarters.