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Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee, who joined the INDIA bloc protest on Thursday, questioned the Election Commission, demanding a meeting between the opposition leaders and the poll body.
Speaking to reporters after the INDIA bloc leaders paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at Raj Ghat, Banerjee said that the proposed meeting between the opposition MPs and the Commission should be live-telecast. He reiterated the oppositions charge of vote chori. The TMC leader said, "The allegations that were raised by the opposition parties are being raised by the two Election Commissioners also. Why can't they meet the opposition MPs? They only meet the BJP MPs. They should live-telecast the meeting between opposition MPs and the Election Commission if they believe they are foolproof. Vote Chori has been taking place since 2014." INDIA bloc leaders today reached Raj Ghat to stage a protest against CEC Gyanesh Kumar after they were stopped during a march towards the Nirvachan Sadan on Tuesday and to Jantar Mantar on Wednesday. The TMC has rallied against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll, alleging unjust deletion of names in West Bengal. From the TMC, Derek OBrien joined the protest on Wednesday, while Abhishek Banerjee participated today. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other INDIA bloc leaders left from Raj Ghat after paying tribute to Mahatma Gandhi. Congress MP Pawan Khera said, Our 'satyagraha' will continue in a non-violent manner. We will continue to fight until Gyanesh Kumar resigns and democracy is safeguarded in this country." Congress MP Pramod Tiwari also said, "The police did not cooperate with us. We paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi ji; our struggle will continue until CEC Gyanesh Kumar resigns." The recent controversy began with media reports over objections raised by two of the current Election Commissioners over aspects of the SIR process, including the modification to Form 6. However, BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari lashed out at Rahul Gandhi and the Congress as the oppositions protest against CEC Gyanesh Kumar over the alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise entered its third day. Addressing a press conference, Pradeep Bhandari questioned Rahul Gandhi, alleging a lack of trust in the apex court to deal with the appeals regarding the SIR exercise. Attacking the Congress, the BJP leader framed it as a fight between the Gandhi-Vadra family and the people of India. Bhandari said, "The Congress party is fighting against 'We, the People of India.' This battle has become one of the Congress partyits workers and the Gandhi-Vadra familyversus the people of India, who are silently witnessing the party's hooliganism. They used to speak about returning to ballot papers. Yet, we recently saw elections held in places like Assam and Tripura; the Congress party lost there too, even though EVMs were not the only factor. (ANI)
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