New Delhi: AISA (All India Students' Association) activists staged a protest for the second consecutive day against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Saturday, with around 150 protesters detained as they marched towards Jantar Mantar amid heavy police deployment.

AISA national president Neha Bora, activist Yogendra Yadav and senior advocate Prashant Bhushan were among those detained. The protesters were marching from Patel Chowk towards Jantar Mantar, where security personnel had erected barricades and deployed additional forces to prevent demonstrators from reaching the designated protest area, according to an official.

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AISA members said senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Nitya Ramakrishnan and Pallav Sisodia, along with Bhushan and Yadav, joined Bora and other students during the march.

Police began detaining protesters as they gathered near the protest site, with several of them taken to police stations, officials said.

AISA alleged that more than 500 people who marched towards Jantar Mantar on Saturday were met with force by Delhi Police while demanding what it described as integrity and transparency in the electoral process.
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AISA alleges manhandling of women protesters

AISA alleged that women protesters, journalists and lawyers were manhandled by male police personnel during the demonstrations. The organisation also alleged that some women protesters were groped.

AISA said Neha Bora, along with 10 others, was taken to Kotwali police station, while DU AISA secretary Anjali, activist Anjali Bharadwaj, Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan were taken to Badarpur police station.

The allegations were made in a statement issued by AISA.

Protest over SIR, demand for CEC's resignation

The fresh mobilisation followed Bora's call on Friday evening for activists to return to Jantar Mantar and continue the protest.

The protesters are demanding Kumar's resignation and raising concerns over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. They have alleged irregularities in the revision process.

The protest comes a day after nearly 1,000 protesters were detained from Jantar Mantar and surrounding areas as police and paramilitary personnel prevented large groups from reaching the protest site. Many of those detained were subsequently released.

Three FIRs registered over Friday protests

Delhi Police has registered at least three FIRs in connection with Friday's protests- two at Parliament Street police station and one at Connaught Place police station- under Section 223 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for alleged disobedience of an order duly promulgated by a public servant.

A senior police officer said no individual or organisation had been named as an accused in the FIRs, though details of organisers and organisations that proposed or participated in the demonstrations were mentioned in their contents.

The FIRs relate to alleged violations of prohibitory orders imposed across the New Delhi district under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita. The orders restrict gatherings of five or more people, processions, demonstrations, picketing, dharnas and slogan shouting without prior written permission.

Delhi Police had denied permission for the Friday gathering and imposed heightened security measures in central Delhi. Several roads were barricaded, while entry and exit at a number of Metro stations near Jantar Mantar were temporarily restricted.
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Why are protesters opposing the SIR exercise?

The protesters are opposing the SIR exercise and alleging irregularities in the revision of electoral rolls.

The demonstrations have also followed an Indian Express report that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had objected on record at least 14 times over the previous 10 months to decisions and orders on the SIR that they said were issued without their knowledge or recommendation.

The Election Commission has said that differing views and observations are a normal part of institutional deliberations and has asserted that its orders carry full legal sanction and follow established statutory procedures.

(With PTI inputs)