Patna: RJD working president and head of the opposition in the state assembly, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, on Thursday led a march of Grand Alliance (GA) lawmakers, senior party functionaries and members to Lok Bhavan to submit a memorandum to governor Syed Ata Hasnain, seeking restoration of the election process and measures to “save democracy”. The marchers broke through three layers of barricades amid heavy police deployment.The march began from Shaheed Smarak outside the state assembly after it was garlanded. Police had deployed armed personnel, some carrying tear gas shells, along with water cannon vehicles near the office of the state chief electoral officer.Participants included state Congress chief Rajesh Ram, CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, VIP chief Mukesh Sahani, IIP chief I P Gupta, and functionaries of the CPM and CPI. RJD Rajya Sabha member Misa Bharti and former state Congress chief Shakeel Ahmad Khan also joined the march.Tejashwi climbed over the barricades and jumped across, followed by Sahani. Both were detained and taken towards Lok Bhavan, while Ram was also taken into custody. Other lawmakers were taken to police stations and later released.“We are demanding the resignation of chief election commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, but he is only a symbol, since he could be replaced by another CEC of his type. Gyanesh Kumar has murdered democracy by vitiating the entire election process,” Tejashwi told reporters outside Raj Bhavan.“No one can destroy democracy in the country. Gyanesh, PM Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah have worked in tandem to destroy the election process and democracy that had started with the introduction of special intensive revision (SIR) of the electors in Bihar last year. The Bihar and West Bengal assembly elections should be cancelled,” he said.State JD(U) chief Umesh Singh Kushwaha called the march and statewide protests a “gross failure”, saying the GA had produced no concrete evidence against the SIR exercise in the past year.Meanwhile, former CPI(ML) MLA Ajit Kumar Kushwaha fainted after being injured during the march and was taken for medical treatment.
