Thursday was the third day the INDIA bloc leaders and MPs got together to protest against the CEC, demanding his resignation. (Express photo by Abhinav Saha)FOR THE third day in a row, INDIA bloc leaders hit the streets demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation over allegations of “vote chori”.A contingent, led by Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and his Rajya Sabha counterpart Mallikarjun Kharge, staged a peaceful protest at Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial at Rajghat and said they would continue their protest on Friday; they are likely to meet in Parliament House in the afternoon.Sources told The Indian Express that the Opposition MPs will assemble in Parliament complex and from there they will march to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.Also Read | Day after detentions, Rahul Gandhi-led Opposition’s silent protest at Raj GhatSpeaking to reporters, Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal said: “We have already requested the President for a meeting with the INDIA alliance leaders. The first request letter was sent on October 2. Then Rashtrapati Bhavan office intimated us to give names. On October 5, we gave a request with the names, with all INDIA alliance leaders. We asked for an appointment for (October) 7th, 8th, 9th. Today is 8th. We will wait for tomorrow also… So far, there is no response.”“If the appointment is granted by the President, then we will march to Rashtrapati Bhavan and the selected few MPs will meet her. If not, we will march to the Bhavan and protest there,” said a source in the INDIA bloc.Sources said the delegation of leaders who will meet the President, if her office agrees, will include Congress’s Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, TMC’s Mamata Banerjee, RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, SP’s Rajeev Rai, NCP(SP)’s Supriya Sule, Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Sanjay Raut, among others.Also Read | Rahul, Priyanka Gandhi detained after hours-long anti-CEC protest, released laterOn Thursday, the INDIA bloc leaders headed for Rajghat from Moets restaurant in Connaught Place, where Kharge hosted a lunch for them. Speaking to reporters after the lunch, Gandhi said around 300 MPs wanted to hold a peaceful sit-in, but on the first day of the protest (October 6), they were stopped near the Election Commission’s office and on the second day, they were prevented from going to Jantar Mantar by force.Story continues below this ad“The truth is that (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi, (Home Minister) Amit Shah, (RSS chief) Mohan Bhagwat and Gyanesh Kumar have hijacked the country through a criminal conspiracy. They have destroyed the Constitution and stolen votes. They will be brought to justice. This is our guarantee, and you will see it happen,” he said.Kharge announced the decision to head to Rajghat in buses. “All the MPs of the INDIA bloc are going to the Gandhi Memorial. We will stage a sit-in there and peacefully pray that Modi and Shah are blessed with wisdom.”Also Read | Rahul Gandhi’s stand-on-barricade moment came with a Led Zeppelin track“We want to tell the country that the BJP government is snatching our right to vote,” said Kharge.Besides Kharge and Gandhi, Congress MPs Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, K C Venugopal, Vivek Tankha, Manickam Tagore, Jothimani Rajiv Shukla, and Deepender Hooda participated in the protest. Himachal Pradesh and Telangana Chief Ministers Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and A Revanth Reddy were also present.Story continues below this adTrinamool Congress’s Abhishek Banerjee, Menaka Guruswamy, Samirul Islam, Samawadi Party’s Rajeev Rai and Mohibbullah Nadvi, CPI(M) MP John Brittas, CPI’s P Sandosh and RJD’s Sudhakar Singh were also present.Thursday was the third day the INDIA bloc leaders and MPs got together to protest against the CEC, demanding his resignation. On Wednesday, the INDIA bloc contingent headed to Jantar Mantar from Janpath and on Tuesday, they held a march from Parliament’s Makar Dwar to the Election Commission of India office. Asad Rehman is with the national bureau of The Indian Express and covers politics and policy focusing on religious minorities in India. A journalist for over eight years, Rehman moved to this role after covering Uttar Pradesh for five years for The Indian Express. During his time in Uttar Pradesh, he covered politics, crime, health, and human rights among other issues. He did extensive ground reports and covered the protests against the new citizenship law during which many were killed in the state. During the Covid pandemic, he did extensive ground reporting on the migration of workers from the metropolitan cities to villages in Uttar Pradesh. He has also covered some landmark litigations, including the Babri Masjid-Ram temple case and the ongoing Gyanvapi-Kashi Vishwanath temple dispute. Prior to that, he worked on The Indian Express national desk for three years where he was a copy editor. Rehman studied at La Martiniere, Lucknow and then went on to do a bachelor's degree in History from Ramjas College, Delhi University. He also has a Masters degree from the AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia. ... Read More