Hyderabad: Congress’s Chalo Lok Bhavan protest against alleged irregularities in voter-list revision turned tense on Wednesday as police arrested TPCC president Mahesh Kumar Goud and several state ministers and shifted them to Panjagutta police station.The protesters were demanding the resignation of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging irregularities in the voter-list revision process and deletion of eligible voters.Congress leaders and workers took out a rally from the Indira Gandhi statue on Necklace Road towards Lok Bhavan. Police stopped the protesters near Lok Bhavan and arrested Mahesh Kumar Goud, ministers Ponnam Prabhakar, Duddilla Sridhar Babu, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, Adluri Laxman Kumar and Vakiti Srihari, among others.Some other Congress leaders, including AICC secretary Sachin Sawant, were arrested and shifted to Begum Bazar police station.Speaking at Panjagutta police station, Ponnam Prabhakar said the Congress was strongly objecting to alleged irregularities in voter-list revision and deletion of eligible voters. He said protecting voting rights was the responsibility of the Election Commission and demanded that it maintain transparency in the electoral process.He demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah take responsibility for the alleged irregularities, resign and apologise to people.Prabhakar said the Congress was fighting across the country to protect voters’ rights under Rahul Gandhi’s leadership and condemned the arrest of opposition leaders taking part in peaceful protests.He said voting rights were the foundation of democracy and that the Congress would continue its fight to protect the rights of SCs, STs, tribals, minorities and other weaker sections.Prabhakar also demanded that the Election Commission maintain its independence and take steps to restore public confidence in the electoral system. He said the Congress would take its “Vote Bachao – Desh Bachao” campaign to people across Telangana.Speaking at Panjagutta police station, Mahesh Kumar Goud accused the BJP-led Centre of attempting to manipulate voter lists for electoral gain. He alleged that 13 crore votes had been deleted and claimed that the exercise was aimed at benefiting the BJP.Goud also alleged that the Election Commission was not functioning independently and claimed that it was acting at the direction of Modi and Amit Shah. He said the Congress would continue its agitation until Gyanesh Kumar was removed.He further claimed that deletion of votes had contributed to the defeat of the RJD-Congress alliance in Bihar.
