TMC Leaders Protesting Outside EC Office Detained; Saket Gokhale Alleges 'Delhi Police Kidnapped Our MPs'

Several TMC leaders, who were holding a dharna outside the Election Commission’s office over their demands against central probe agencies, were detained by the Delhi police on Monday.

The dharna was organised by the TMC to press their demand that the CBI, NIA, ED and Income Tax Department chiefs be changed.

The TMC has been alleging that the central probe agencies have been targeting opposition parties and their leaders at the behest of the BJP-led Centre.

For this purpose, a 10-member delegation of TMC met a full bench of the Election Commission (EC) to present their demands. They announced the dharna after the meeting.

“The BJP is misusing central agencies against us. The way NIA, ED and CBI are working and targeting TMC leaders is shameful. We would request the EC to ensure a level playing field for all political parties,” Sen told reporters at the Kolkata airport before leaving for New Delhi.

Among those arrested include TMC MPs Derek O’Brien, Mohammed Nadimul Haque, Dola Sen, Saket Gokhale and Sagarika Ghose, MLA Vivek Gupta, former MPs Arpita Ghosh, Santanu Sen and Abir Ranjan Biswas, and party’s students’ wing West Bengal vice president Sudip Raha were detained.

Soon after their detention, TMC accused Delhi police of kidnapping its MPs as their buses were diverted before any prior information.

“Delhi Police has kidnapped us 5 TMC MPs & 4 former MPs. We were protesting at EC & were told we’d be taken to Mandir Marg Police Station. And then, suddenly, the bus has been diverted & going to an unknown location,” Saket Gokhale said.

“Note this – 5 SITTING MPs & 4 former MPs were assaulted, detained, & now being illegally taken to some unknown place by Delhi Police,” he added.

During the protest, TMC leader Sagarika Ghose said that the IT, NIA and ED have been acting on behalf of the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections.

“We have been protesting against how the central agencies – ED, CBI, IT, NIA – are acting on behalf of the BJP in the general elections of 2024. We have just met the full bench of the Election Commission, and we have demanded that the Election Commission urgently intervene and protect the sanctity of the election process,” Ghose said.

 NIA & BJP Share An ‘Unholy Alliance’: TMC

The Trinamool Congress on Sunday alleged an “unholy alliance” between the NIA and the BJP ahead of elections, triggering the central investigating agency to deny any mala fide intention and label the entire controversy as “unfortunate”.

A team of the NIA was allegedly attacked by a mob on Saturday when it went to arrest two main suspects in a 2022 blast case in West Bengal’s Purba Medinipur district, sparking a political slugfest with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accusing the investigators of assaulting the villagers.

(With PTI inputs)