NEW DELHI, Oct 11: All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) MLA Rafikul Islam on Saturday backed the Cockroach Janata Party’s (CJP) protest in Delhi and demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging that 13 crore voters’ names had been deleted from electoral rolls in collusion with the BJP.
Speaking to the media, Islam described the demonstration as peaceful and said his party supported the demand for Kumar’s resignation. He accused the chief election commissioner of committing a serious offence but did not provide evidence to substantiate his allegation about the deletion of voters’ names.
The protest, titled ‘Jantar Mantar 2.0’, sought Kumar’s removal from office. Delhi Police detained demonstrators attempting to march towards Jantar Mantar, citing the absence of permission for the gathering.
According to ANI, Delhi Police had detained around 1,000 protesters across the national capital by October 10. Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Abhishek Banerjee, however, alleged that around 2,500 people had been detained in connection with the demonstrations.
Banerjee claimed that those detained included party workers, supporters, people without political affiliations and bystanders. He also alleged that police had prevented a peaceful protest involving former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and five TMC MPs.
Congress MP Deepender Hooda criticised the police action, alleging that the detentions were creating an atmosphere of dictatorship in the country. He said the Congress would continue its protests.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray also questioned the detentions, alleging that the BJP was acting out of fear of public protests.
The opposition leaders’ allegations concerning voter-list deletions and the handling of the demonstrations could not be independently verified from the information available.
