A Delhi protest demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation intensified on Sunday after police detained AISA national president Neha Bora and later released her, while organisers and political figures questioned the manner in which demonstrators were taken away.
According to the report by Live Hindustan, ordinary citizens, social activists and student organisations marched from India Gate to Jantar Mantar. AISA members were staging demonstrations for the third consecutive day over their demand for the Chief Election Commissioner’s resignation. The protests are also linked to allegations of irregularities in the functioning of the Election Commission, the Special Intensive Revision process and the deletion of large numbers of voters’ names.
Members of AISA claimed, as reported by news agency Bhasha, that Bora was taken by Delhi Police in a private vehicle to an undisclosed location. They alleged that the vehicle did not have an official number plate and that no woman police officer was present inside when Bora was taken away. The report said Delhi Police had not immediately responded to these allegations.
The detention drew criticism from Abhijeet Deepke, described in the report as the convenor of the Cockroach Janta Party. Deepke alleged that Bora and a woman journalist who had accused Assistant Commissioner of Police Vivek Bhagat of sexual harassment were detained during the protests. He criticised the police action and questioned the government’s claims about women’s empowerment in a post tagging Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The allegations involving the woman journalist relate to an incident at Jantar Mantar on Saturday. According to the report, she alleged that the assistant commissioner struck her on the chest and pushed her away while Bora was being detained. The report said the matter had been handed over to the Delhi Police Crime Branch for investigation. These allegations have not been established as facts, and the report did not include a response from the officer named in the complaint.
The developments place police handling of public demonstrations at the centre of the dispute. Detention during a protest, the use of private vehicles and the presence or absence of designated women officers are matters that can affect how authorities manage assemblies involving women and student groups. In this case, the available report records allegations by protesters and criticism from a political figure, but does not provide an immediate police account of the detention.
The demonstrations were not confined to Delhi. The report said a separate protest took place in Mumbai, led by Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray, with hundreds of people participating. The reported demands included Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation and objections to alleged irregularities in election administration, the Special Intensive Revision process and voter-list deletions.
The immediate next step in Delhi is the Crime Branch inquiry into the woman journalist’s allegations. Delhi Police’s response to the claims surrounding Bora’s detention and the outcome of the investigation will determine what has been formally established about the events at the protests.