Delhi Police Detains TMC Leaders Protesting Outside Election Commission Office

A 10-member delegation of Trinamool Congress (TMC) had announced the dharna after meeting a full bench of the Election Commission (EC) to press their demand.

Outlook Web Desk

Updated on: 8 April 2024 6:36 pm

Delhi Police detain TMC leaders demonstrating outside Election Commission office Photo: PTI

The Delhi Police detained TMC leaders on Monday when they were staging a protest outside the Election Commission's office. They were demanding the replacement of the heads of CBI, NIA, ED, and Income Tax Department.

A group of ten members from the Trinamool Congress declared a protest after having a meeting with the complete panel of the Election Commission to emphasize their request.

Who were detained?

TMC MPs Derek O'Brien, Mohammed Nadimul Haque, Dola Sen, Saket Gokhale and Sagarika Ghose, MLA Vivek Gupta, former MPs Arpita Ghosh, Santanu Sen and Abir Ranjan Biswas, and party's students' wing West Bengal vice president Sudip Raha were detained.

"Our 24-hour dharna will continue inside the police station or outside. We will carry on," O'Brien told reporters from behind the gates of the Mandir Marg police station, around 2.5 km from the Election Commission (EC) office on Ashoka Road in Central Delhi.

"We were supposed to have our protest outside the EC. But now we are here (police station)," O'Brien said.

The party has claimed that the central investigation agencies have been singling out opposition parties under the influence of the BJP-led government.

A TMC leader told the media, "The BJP is misusing central agencies against us. The way NIA, ED and CBI are working and targeting TMC leaders is shameful. We would request the EC to ensure a level playing field for all political parties."

The TMC alleged on Sunday an "unholy alliance" between the NIA and the BJP ahead of elections, prompting the central investigating agency to deny any mala fide intention and label the entire controversy as "unfortunate".

A team of the NIA was allegedly attacked by a mob on Saturday when it went to arrest two main suspects in a 2022 blast case in West Bengal's Purba Medinipur district, sparking a political slugfest with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accusing the investigators of assaulting the villagers.