New Delhi, 06 October (H.S.): Members of the INDIA bloc on Tuesday began a march from Parliament to the headquarters of the Election Commission of India, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and the immediate withdrawal of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process. The Delhi Police detained several leaders near All India Radio, while Rahul Gandhi remained inside the Akashvani Bhavan.

The march, which began from the Makar Dwar of Parliament House, was stopped by security personnel after barricades were erected near the NITI Aayog office. After being denied permission to proceed further, opposition MPs sat on the road and staged a protest, raising slogans against the Central government and the Election Commission.

The march was joined by MPs from the Congress, Samajwadi Party and Left parties, as well as members of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD).

Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav took a dig at the BJP’s offices in Delhi while speaking to the media. He said, “What was the need for the BJP to build such large offices in Delhi? They could have taken a floor in the Election Commission’s office and worked from there; that would have been much better. It appears that, in the eyes of the Commission, only BJP workers are citizens and voters of the country.”

Akhilesh Yadav alleged that the people’s mandate had been undermined through the misuse of machinery during the by-elections in Kundarki, Meerapur, Ayodhya and Ambedkar Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, as well as in West Bengal.

Akhilesh Yadav further alleged that despite a formal complaint regarding the filing of Form 7 using forged signatures in the name of Nandlal Nishad and the deletion of names of legitimate voters, the Election Commission had taken no action against the officials concerned.

Rejecting the proposal for “One Nation, One Election”, Akhilesh Yadav said the system was an attempt to manipulate elections at one go and remain in power unchecked for five years, adding that the people would not accept such an arrangement.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar