Chandigarh

Haryana Congress on Friday protested here demanding the arrest of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and a review of his decisions, with police using water cannons against the protesters to prevent the gherao of office of the chief electoral officer.

The protest was organised under the leadership of former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Haryana Congress chief Rao Narender Singh and party's state affairs in-charge Sanjay Dutt.

The party leaders raised "Vote Chori" slogans during the protest in Sector 17 here.

Party MPs from Haryana Deepender Singh Hooda, Jai Prakash, Satpal Brahamchari and Varun Chaudhary, Karamvir Singh Boudh, senior leaders Ashok Tanwar, Udai Bhan and several MLAs including Ashok Arora, Aditya Surjewala, Aftab Ahmed were also present.

As several party workers and leaders tried to jump the police barricades to march towards the CEO office to gherao it, Chandigarh police used water cannons to stop them.

Later, several Congress leaders and workers were briefly detained by the police.

Before being detained, the protestors alleged that the electoral process had been rigged and the right to vote was being snatched from citizens.

They raised "stop vote chori" slogans.

Dutt said, "Gyanesh Kumar should resign; he should be arrested because if he continues in his post, he can influence the investigation. All decisions taken during his tenure should be reviewed, and criminal cases should be filed against all the officials involved."

"In Haryana's context, our demand is that it is now proved that through 'Vote Chori' the BJP government has been formed in the state," Dutt alleged.

"Therefore, Nayab Singh Saini has no moral right to continue and he should resign. Polls should be held again in Haryana and people should be given an opportunity to exercise their right, as the mandate was earlier stolen. The BJP should seek a fresh mandate," Dutt said.

Haryana Congress chief Rao Narender Singh said Gyanesh Kumar should resign or he should be dismissed.

On Thursday, Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi had claimed Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi have endorsed what he has been saying for over a year that the country's electoral system has been "destroyed", after revelations came out in a report by The Indian Express that they flagged issues of deletion and addition of votes through SIR.

Senior Haryana Congress leader and MLA Ashok Arora said, "What Rahul Gandhi had been stating for the past several months has come true."

Haryana Congress leader Brijendra Singh, while referring to the "Vote Chori" charge, said, "Rahul Gandhi was trying to make us all understand what was going on."

Rajya Sabha MP from Haryana, Karamvir Singh Boudh, said, "This fight is to save the country, its constitution".

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Hitting out at the BJP-led Centre, Boudh alleged, "they have captured institutions in this country".