Pressing for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Opposition leaders staged a protest for the second consecutive day in the heart of the Capital Wednesday before they were stopped and detained by police.The Samajwadi Party, however, stayed away from the INDIA bloc protest. On Tuesday, after the Opposition protest, Congress allies had expressed concern that it had been turned into a Rahul Gandhi “show”. The SP skipped the lunch hosted Wednesday by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge at the Sagar Ratna restaurant on Janpath.From the restaurant, Opposition MPs, including Gandhi, Mamata TMC’s Derek O’Brien, CPI(M)’s John Brittas and CPI’s P Sandosh Kumar, boarded three buses to head towards Jantar Mantar. Over the next couple of hours, as the buses crawled forward, Congress workers walked alongside.Also Read | Rahul Gandhi detained again: How does detention differ from arrest, what rights do detainees have?Police, however, blocked the way and the march came to a halt near Windsor Place. Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra lay on the road, clutching a copy of the Constitution, along with other women leaders. Congress MP along with Rahul Gandhi detained during protest against CEC near Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Wednesday. (EXPRESS PHOTO BY PRAVEEN KHANNA)Later, police forcibly removed Congress workers and detained the Gandhi siblings and other senior leaders. Kerala Chief Minister V D Satheesan was among those who had joined the protest.“We are not going to stop protesting till Gyanesh Kumar resigns. This is a fight to protect the most sacred thing in this country. There is nothing that Narendra Modi and Amit Shah can do that will stop us,” Gandhi said.He thanked all INDIA bloc MPs “standing firm in defence of our democracy – in Parliament, outside on the streets, and today near Jantar Mantar”.Story continues below this adAlso Read | ‘Won’t stop till Gyanesh Kumar quits’: Taken by cops, Rahul Gandhi’s messageThe Congress called for more protests at state, district and block levels on Thursday.The party also played down the absence of SP MPs from Wednesday’s lunch meeting, saying they had left Delhi the night before or early Wednesday. The SP’s absence, it is learnt, also came up during the discussions over lunch. Later in the day, INDIA bloc leaders reached out to the SP, which agreed to send its representatives for the protest Thursday, sources said. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge coming out of Sagar Ratna with Congress leaders and other party leaders, in New Delhi on Wednesday. (EXPRESS PHOTO BY PRAVEEN KHANNA)Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, in a post on X, said all alliance parties were invited to the lunch. “But the decision for lunch had been taken late last night and communicated. It was therefore natural that some parties could not be represented. There is needless comment in some sections of the media on it. INDIA and other Opposition parties are united and stand in solidarity against Vote Chori, SIR and Delimitation,” he said.Also Read | Delhi cops had protest under control, then Gandhis walked into All India RadioSP leaders whom The Indian Express spoke to blamed the patchy coordination by the Congress. A party MP said, “The Samajwadi Party did not attend the lunch by the Congress because of lack of proper coordination from the Congress side. Samajwadi Party MPs left for their constituencies on Tuesday evening after the protest against the CEC ended. Until then, there was no information about the lunch.”Story continues below this adSources in the SP said the party leadership and the MPs were upset with the Gandhi siblings for “stealing the show” Tuesday. “It is true that we are not happy with the poor coordination by the Congress regarding the protest at Akashvani Bhavan. It was supposed to be a joint protest by the INDIA bloc, and not by the Gandhis. The next big election in the country is in Uttar Pradesh, where the Samajwadi Party has a bigger stake than the Congress. Akhilesh Yadav raised the concerns about SIR in Uttar Pradesh more aggressively and effectively, while the Congress leadership only took symbolic steps during the SIR in UP earlier this year. But the Congress in Delhi tried to portray that only it was serious about SIR,” an SP leader said.Also Read | Protests against Gyanesh Kumar: What was the 2006 Keralam corruption probe that led to his removal from post?The developments are playing out against a key backdrop: the UP Assembly elections early next year. In the politically significant heartland state, the SP and the Congress are allies and as the polls approach, a tussle over seat distribution has begun.