Agra/Lucknow: Two Congress leaders were arrested Monday for allegedly defacing the wall and the main gate of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s home in Agra with the words “Gyanesh Gaddar, Gyanesh Chor” (Gyanesh traitor, Gyanesh thief), police said.
The incident unfolded during the Congress workers’ protest outside Kumar’s house in Vijay Nagar, where they raised slogans and defaced the main gate and a wall of the house with spray paint, following which police registered an FIR.
Agra Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Bajrang Prasad said a case was registered at the Hari Parvat police station in connection with the incident and Congress leader Mukesh Dhangar and general secretary (organisation) Anil Yadav were arrested.
The protesters, including Congress workers and affiliated organisations, arrived in large numbers in the morning, and also put up stickers and pasted pamphlets outside his residence.
The protesters used spray paint to write “Gyanesh Gaddar Gyanesh Chor” on the main gate and the wall of the house.
Visuals of the protest and the defacement were subsequently shared on social media.
The Indian Youth Congress, in a post on X, said, “In Agra, Congress workers blackened with soot the house of ‘Gaddar Gyanesh’. The way Modi and Shah, in collusion with Gyanesh, have looted elections across different parts of the country over the past several years is directly an act of treason against the country. We will ensure that Gyanesh is punished.” ACP Bajrang
Prasad said police are also searching for other Congress leaders allegedly involved in the protest.
Similar demonstrations, including burning Kumar’s effigy and taking out protest marches, were held in Varanasi, Lucknow, Prayagraj, Ayodhya, Raebareli, Sultanpur, Sonbhadra, Sitapur, Unnao, Maharajganj and Mathura districts, as part of Congress’ statewide agitation.
At Lucknow’s Tikunia Park, hundreds of Congress workers marched to gherao the Election Commission office at Janpath Market, UP Congress Committee’s media department head Kunwar Singh Nishad said in a statement.
However, they were halted near the municipal corporation office, leading to a scuffle with the heavy police force deployed there.
Congress workers then resorted to burning an effigy of Gyanesh Kumar, but they were subsequently arrested, taken to Police Lines in police buses, and released late in the evening.
In Prayagraj, hundreds of Congress members, including MP Ujjwal Raman Singh and former MLA Anugrah Narayan Singh, participated in the event.
Gyanesh Kumar, a 1988-batch Indian Administrative Service officer of the Kerala cadre, was appointed election commissioner to the poll panel March 15, 2024, after retiring from service January 31, 2024.
Kumar assumed charge as the 26th Chief Election Commissioner February 19 last year.
Monday’s protest came amid an intensifying confrontation between the Congress and the Election Commission over the functioning of the poll panel, including the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The Congress has been holding protests against the Election Commission in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and other parts of the country, alleging that the poll panel has acted in favour of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has particularly targeted CEC Gyanesh Kumar, accusing him of taking unconstitutional steps, and described his alleged actions as “treason”.
The protests have intensified since an investigation published by The Indian Express last week claimed that two of the three election commissioners had formally raised objections on 14 occasions over 10 months regarding decisions of the poll panel and called specific changes in voter enrolment forms “unauthorised/illegal”.
Following the report, Opposition parties, including the Samajwadi Party, stepped up their criticism of the Election Commission and the BJP.
On Sunday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath criticised the Congress and its allies for attacking the Election Commission and the SIR exercise. Adityanath accused the Congress and its allies of weakening democratic institutions for political interests and said they should apologise to the nation for their criticism of the Election Commission and the SIR.
He described recent statements by Opposition parties on the revision of electoral rolls as “extremely irresponsible”.
