NEW DELHI: Trinamool Congress leaders ended their 24-hour protest at the Mandir Marg police station here on Tuesday evening, a day after they were detained for staging a sit-in protest outside the Election Commission‘s office on Monday.
The Mamata Banerjee-led TMC has been alleging that central probe agencies have been targeting opposition parties ahead of the Lok Sabha polls at the behest of the BJP-led central government and decided to take their battle to Delhi urging the ECI to provide “level playing field” for all the players in the elections.
Leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party, including Saurabh Bharadwaj and Dilip Pandey, met with the protesting TMC leaders on Tuesday, at the police station to lend their support.
After the TMC delegation of 10 leaders including five MPs met with the full bench of the Election Commission (EC) on Monday and urged the poll body to change the heads of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), National Investigation Agency (NIA) and income-tax (I-T) department, alleging that they are acting at the behest of the ruling BJP at the Centre.
Later, the delegation including Derek O’Brien, Nadimul Haque, Dola Sen, Saket Gokhale, Sagarika Ghose, MLA Vivek Gupta, former MPs Arpita Ghosh, Santanu Sen and Abir Ranjan Biswas and student leader Sudip Raha, announced that they were sitting on a 24-hour dharna.
TMC urged the Commission to stop “misuse” of central agencies by BJP against opposition leaders. The protesting leaders were told to disperse, but they continued their protest and the police forcibly evicted them and detained them at the police station. Police said the TMC leaders were released on Monday night but they stayed put at the station through the night and continued their dharna.
“We want the EC to take an impartial stand on the issue and change the heads of these agencies. We were on a 24-hour dharna… Women MPs were detained after sunset, we were not told what the charges were, and only after midnight they told us we were free to go,” Dola Sen said after the protest ended.
AAP leaders condemned the police action. “TMC leaders went to the EC to demand that the attacks on opposition by agencies like ED, I-T (department) and CBI be stopped. Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) is campaigning across the country every day while raids are being carried out against opposition leaders so that they can’t campaign,” Bharadwaj said.
AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh extended his support to TMC. “If you ask for justice from the Election Commission, you will get jail. We are with TMC MP Derek O’Brien and his party’s struggle,” he said in a post on X.
The Mamata Banerjee-led TMC has been alleging that central probe agencies have been targeting opposition parties ahead of the Lok Sabha polls at the behest of the BJP-led central government and decided to take their battle to Delhi urging the ECI to provide “level playing field” for all the players in the elections.
Leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party, including Saurabh Bharadwaj and Dilip Pandey, met with the protesting TMC leaders on Tuesday, at the police station to lend their support.
After the TMC delegation of 10 leaders including five MPs met with the full bench of the Election Commission (EC) on Monday and urged the poll body to change the heads of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), National Investigation Agency (NIA) and income-tax (I-T) department, alleging that they are acting at the behest of the ruling BJP at the Centre.
Later, the delegation including Derek O’Brien, Nadimul Haque, Dola Sen, Saket Gokhale, Sagarika Ghose, MLA Vivek Gupta, former MPs Arpita Ghosh, Santanu Sen and Abir Ranjan Biswas and student leader Sudip Raha, announced that they were sitting on a 24-hour dharna.
TMC urged the Commission to stop “misuse” of central agencies by BJP against opposition leaders. The protesting leaders were told to disperse, but they continued their protest and the police forcibly evicted them and detained them at the police station. Police said the TMC leaders were released on Monday night but they stayed put at the station through the night and continued their dharna.
“We want the EC to take an impartial stand on the issue and change the heads of these agencies. We were on a 24-hour dharna… Women MPs were detained after sunset, we were not told what the charges were, and only after midnight they told us we were free to go,” Dola Sen said after the protest ended.
AAP leaders condemned the police action. “TMC leaders went to the EC to demand that the attacks on opposition by agencies like ED, I-T (department) and CBI be stopped. Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) is campaigning across the country every day while raids are being carried out against opposition leaders so that they can’t campaign,” Bharadwaj said.
AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh extended his support to TMC. “If you ask for justice from the Election Commission, you will get jail. We are with TMC MP Derek O’Brien and his party’s struggle,” he said in a post on X.