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AAP holds protest against CEC in Chandigarh; Sisodia, Cheema detained
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday held a protest here against chief election commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over alleged vote theft and lashed out at the BJP-led Centre for detaining protesters ahead of the proposed demonstration by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) at Jantar Mantar in Delhi.
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The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday held a protest here against chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged vote theft and lashed out at the BJP-led Centre for detaining protesters ahead of the proposed demonstration by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) at Jantar Mantar in Delhi.
AAP leader Manish Sisodia along with Punjab cabinet minister Harpal Singh Cheema were among those detained by the police for protesting in Sector 17 in front of the Election Commission’s office.
The protest started at around 12 noon. Heavy police deployment and barricading had been done to stop the protesters from entering into the Election Commission’s office.
Meanwhile, police and protesters had a face-off and party leaders were detained and taken to the Sector 17 police station. They were released later after two hours.
Addressing a gathering here, Sisodia slammed the BJP-led Union government for allegedly detaining youths who came to Delhi to protest against the CEC, seeking his resignation.
“Such a situation was not even seen during the Emergency,” he said while taking on the Centre over deploying heavy police force in the national capital and detaining youths.
“The Centre is scared that if protesters manage to reach Jantar Mantar, then like Dharmendra Pradhan, Gyanesh Kumar would also have to quit,” he said.
Sisodia said the AAP completely supports the CJP’s protest call at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. “We also demand that Kumar resign,” he said.
He claimed that 13 crore voters were removed from the electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIT) exercise.
Cheema slammed the Centre over the detention of several protesters in Delhi.
“Youths were being detained. When youths were coming to Delhi for protest, the BJP was depriving them of exercising their democratic right,” said Cheema.
“An unannounced Emergency has been imposed by the BJP,” he alleged.
Police said that the situation remained mostly peaceful and as of now they haven’t registered any FIR in this case.
Dhillon slams AAP over protest
The Punjab BJP on Saturday attacked the AAP for protesting against CEC Gyanesh Kumar over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, alleging that the demonstration was being conducted at the behest of the state government.
“Who is the Aam Aadmi Party protesting against? Do Arvind Kejriwal and the AAP no longer trust their own government?” Punjab BJP chief Kewal Singh Dhillon asked.
“It was surprising that the government was conducting the SIR process itself and also staging a protest against it,” said Dhillon, pointing out that CM Bhagwant Mann and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal had repeatedly assured the public that no legitimate voter’s name would be deleted from the electoral rolls in Punjab.
