Reported by The Times of India
New Delhi: Hundreds of protesters, including students, farmers and civil society organisations, gathered in central Delhi Friday to demand the resignation of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the scrapping of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Over 100 of them were later detained by police.
Carrying the national flag and raising slogans against the exercise by Election Commission of India, the demonstrators set out towards the ECI headquarters, alleging that the revision had led to the “unfair” deletion of voters.
The march, organised by Delhi Coordination Committee of People Against SIR, began near Gole Dak Khana around 1pm and moved towards Ashoka Road, with police personnel deployed in large numbers across central Delhi.
Around 2pm, police asked the crowd to disperse. As the march proceeded towards the ECI headquarters, several protesters were detained. Section 163 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, which prohibits unlawful assemblies under specified circumstances, was imposed in the area, according to police sources.
Protesters from Delhi, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh were, however, determined to make their voices heard, with slogans of “Gyanesh Kumar, resign”, “Halt SIR” and “Won’t tolerate vote theft” filling the air.
