Akhilesh Yadav's cheeky dig after detention during oppn march: 'Being taken to Gyanesh Kumar who will ...'

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee were detained on Tuesday as INDIA bloc leaders marched towards the Election Commission headquarters in New Delhi, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Speaking to CNN-News18, Akhilesh, who was detained inside a bus, said sarcastically that they were being taken to meet Gyanesh Kumar "who will handover his resignation in person to us". Banerjee, also speaking to News18, said: "They have detained us - we are demanding resignation of Gyanesh Kumar". Earlier, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had climbed a barricade and waved the Tricolour during the march. On X, he wrote: "Gyanesh, it's done, bro. Time to resign", in a callback to the now-famous post by Salman Khan after the resignation of Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The Opposition on Tuesday intensified the protest against CEC Gyanesh Kumar amid allegations of irregularities in electoral rolls and voter deletions. Leaders from several INDIA bloc parties took part in the march from Parliament's Makar Dwar towards Nirvachan Sadan. Yadav also launched a sharp attack on the BJP and the Election Commission, alleging that the poll body had facilitated large-scale voter deletions. "We never fear the blazing sun or the sweat. The people of the BJP are terrified, which is why barricades have been put up everywhere," Yadav was quoted as saying by ANI. Challenging CEC Gyanesh Kumar to respond to the Opposition's allegations, Yadav said, "If the BJP is so impartial, let Gyanesh Kumar come here and explain whose signatures were forged in the name of Nandlal Nishad. Who fabricated 100 forms in the name of Dashrath? The CEC must come here and answer. We caught them... the Samajwadis caught this red-handed." "The rules clearly dictate that you cannot delete more than five votes or submit more than five Form-7 applications. Yet, over 100 forms were fraudulently filed," Yadav added.   On Monday, the Supreme Court said it will examine all decisions of the Election Commission (EC) and annul those found not to be in accordance with law, as it issued notices to the Centre and the poll body following pleas alleging that the EC took several decisions without the approval of the two election commissioners. The court also made it clear that it has not approved any modifications to Form 6 that was being used by the EC during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in various states.