Former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and state Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra were among senior party leaders detained by police during a protest march to the State Election Commission office in Jaipur on Monday over alleged vote theft and irregularities in the SIR.
Congress workers carrying party flags and posters demanding the resignation and arrest of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar gathered at Shaheed Smarak, where party leaders addressed them.
Heavy police deployment was made at Shaheed Smarak and traffic on MI Road was diverted.
Soon after the march began, the protesters were met with multiple layers of barricades. When the protesters tried to push through the barricades, police used water cannons to disperse them.
Party workers lifted Leader of Opposition in the Rajasthan Assembly Tikaram Jully and former minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas on their shoulders as they raised slogans.
Gehlot, Dotasra and Congress' Rajasthan in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa were detained by police, party sources said.
At the police station, the Congress leaders raised slogans against CEC Kumar and Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma.
Addressing the protesters ahead of the march, Dotasra launched a sharp attack on the CEC, blaming him for "irregularities" in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
He said Kumar had "looted democracy".
Dotasra said Monday's protest was only the beginning and Congress workers would take the issue to people across the state.
Gehlot alleged that a dangerous game was being played in the country and democratic institutions were being weakened.
"Congress workers will have to remain alert. This is a do-or-die battle. Workers should go among the people, understand the situation in the country and see how they can contribute to saving democracy," he said.
Referring to the recently held urban local body elections in the state, the former CM claimed that the Congress lost because of "arbitrary and wrong" delimitation of wards.
"The government resorted to hooliganism in the urban local body elections and misused police and administration. We lost the elections because of delimitation," he alleged.
Randhawa said the BJP was trying to end democracy while the Congress was fighting to protect it.
He said the Congress would take the agitation to the people and make them aware of the issue.
The Indian Express had reported on September 25 that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi wrote separately to Cabinet Secretary TV Somanathan after issuance of a work allocation order within the Election Commission (EC) that "threatened to concentrate the powers" at the poll body centrally to add or delete names and update records in the voters' list rather than allowing officials at the state level.
(With inputs from PTI)
