150 people detained for protests demanding resignation of top election official; Delhi Police say no nod for stir

New DelhiNearly 150 politicians, student leaders and civil society members were detained on Friday afternoon from three locations near Jantar Mantar and Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) Marg in central Delhi, as hundreds of protesters carried out demonstrations, demanding the arrest and resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and suspension of the special intensive revision (SIR) of rolls

New Delhi

Protesters were released at around 8pm. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

Nearly 150 politicians, student leaders and civil society members were detained on Friday afternoon from three locations near Jantar Mantar and Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) Marg in central Delhi, as hundreds of protesters carried out demonstrations, demanding the arrest and resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and suspension of the special intensive revision (SIR) of rolls.

Those detained include Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president Devender Yadav, All India Students’ Association (AISA) president Neha Bora, CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, and activist Yogendra Yadav. They were released around 8pm.

Senior police officers said that the protesters did not have permission for the agitations.

AISA members alleged that they had informed the Parliament Street police station about the protest plan, but police stressed that permission was not granted.

“Nearly 200 protesters from AISA, Students Federation of India (SFI) and other students and civil society organisations tried to march towards the Jantar Mantar and the Election Commission of India (ECI) headquarters. Since no permission was sought or given, we detained nearly 100 protesters from Sansad Marg and outside Patel Chowk Metro station. They were taken to various police stations and later released,” said a senior police officer, who asked not to be named.

The Election Commission of India and the CEC did not respond to HT’s request for comment. ECI has said differing views and observations were a normal part of deliberation and that all its digital platforms operated under strict data security protocols to prevent unauthorised tampering or manipulation.

AISA Delhi state secretary Abhigyan said that around 2.30pm, nearly 200 protesters, including Bora, MP Mahua Moitra, Yadav, Bhattacharya, and civil society member Prashant Bhushan, started the march, but were forcefully stopped. “Security personnel manhandled protesters and forcibly detained them. They were taken to various police stations across the city,” he said.

AISA president Bora, in a video, said,“We have been brought to the Kanjhawala police station. What was our fault? We were just demanding accountability...”

“Our constitution gives us the right to democratic dissent if voting rights are snatched; rules are amended for appointing the CEC, and mass level deletion of voters happens in the country. Using our democratic rights, we went to protest at the Jantar Mantar. We may have been detained today, but we will come tomorrow...” Bora said

Yadav, in a social media video, said, “...Questioning those who tampered with votes is a crime, so we will commit this crime again and again.”

While being taken to the IP Estate police station after detention, DPCC president Devender Yadav said, “Congress protest will continue until Gyanesh Kumar is removed from his post as CEC and arrested.”

Apart from the Delhi Police, personnel from the Border Security Force and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were also deployed in and around the Jantar Mantar and DDU Marg, which was closed for vehicular movement until protesters were removed.