The Election Commission on Tuesday said it had received no request from any political party for a meeting with the poll panel, even as Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and other INDIA bloc leaders staged a protest near its headquarters demanding an audience with the election commissioners.
The clarification came as a high-voltage Opposition march from Parliament Street to the Election Commission office ended in a standoff with police.
Rahul Gandhi, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and several other MPs were stopped near Akashvani Bhawan and NITI Aayog while attempting to proceed towards the poll panel's office.
Rahul later entered the All India Radio premises after crossing police barricades and remained there for several hours as security personnel prevented protesters from moving towards the EC headquarters.
Asked whether Rahul Gandhi or any INDIA bloc leader had sought a meeting with the poll panel, EC officials said no request had been received from any political party on Tuesday.
Several Opposition leaders, including Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Trinamool Congress MPs Abhishek Banerjee and Derek O'Brien, were detained after police stopped the march.
The protest was organised amid Opposition demands for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise and concerns over differences within the Election Commission.
The protests followed a September 25 report in The Indian Express that raised questions over the SIR process and highlighted alleged differences among the election commissioners.
(With inputs from PTI)
