Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia and several Punjab party leaders and workers were detained by police on Saturday, October 10, during a protest outside the Chief Electoral Officer's (CEO) office in Chandigarh. The protest was held over the demand for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation.
The demonstration saw AAP leaders and workers march towards the CEO's office, raise slogans against the Election Commission and demand accountability. Tensions escalated when some protesters attempted to cross the security perimeter, following which police intervened and detained several demonstrators.
Those detained included Manish Sisodia, former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister, and Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema, along with other AAP leaders and party workers.
Addressing party workers during the protest, Sisodia said he was supporting the demonstration on behalf of AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
He expressed support for the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protest and demanded that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resign.
According to Sisodia, the demand for Kumar's removal was also being raised in Chandigarh and Punjab.
Sisodia also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of winning elections through alleged vote manipulation. He claimed that electoral victories attributed to the Prime Minister were not achieved fairly.
These were political allegations made by Sisodia during the protest. The claims were not independently established in the information available for this report.
During his address, Sisodia referred to the Delhi Assembly elections and alleged that around 40,000 votes had been deleted from the New Delhi Assembly constituency, represented by Arvind Kejriwal.
He described the alleged deletions as vote theft and used the example to support AAP's demand for accountability in the electoral process.
The allegations formed part of the party's broader criticism of the Election Commission and its demand for Gyanesh Kumar's resignation.
Meanwhile, Delhi Police detained around 200 additional protesters in the Connaught Place area of the national capital on Saturday. The protesters were allegedly attempting to march towards Jantar Mantar to participate in a demonstration.
According to Delhi Police sources, activists were detained after being informed that permission had not been granted for the protest.
CJP activist Abhijeet Dipke, who travelled from Mumbai to Delhi to join the demonstration, also posted a video on Instagram alleging that police personnel were detaining him and his associates as they got off their flight at Delhi airport.
Earlier, Delhi Police had detained around 500 people who arrived in different groups from various locations ahead of the planned protest in the national capital.
Police also said that nearly 50 people with criminal antecedents had been apprehended as a preventive measure to prevent any disturbance.
Delhi Police said the New Delhi district had been divided into 20 operational zones to manage the situation. Dedicated detention centres had been established for each zone, while stadiums across the national capital were also being used as temporary detention centres.
The police said these arrangements were made to manage the people being detained and prevent any disruption during the planned demonstration.
The developments come amid protests demanding accountability from the Election Commission, with AAP leaders in Punjab and Chandigarh joining the calls for Gyanesh Kumar's resignation.