Jantar Mantar denotified as protest site

Amid the Indian opposition parties’ continuous protests against the polls body chief, the Delhi Police on Monday denotified Jantar Mantar as a venue for protests and demonstrations. 
From now on, Jantar Mantar is no longer a “designated site” for protests, the Delhi Police announced on Monday. Three new venues – the Ramlila Ground in Central Delhi, the Burari Ground in North Delhi, and the CBD Ground in East Delhi – have been designated as sites for organising protests and demonstrations.
The move was based on the recommendations of a committee constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to examine alternative venues for citizens to exercise their right to organise protests and demonstrations in place of the existing designated site.
The decision came after the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), a social media satire page turned pressure group, Indian National Congress, and Left-affiliated groups had called upon citizens to protest at different spots across Central Delhi, including Jantar Mantar, on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, demanding resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The authorities, meanwhile, deployed thousands of police personnel to secure the surrounding areas and detained thousands of protesters over three days. 

Reacting to the move, CJP said it does not accept the decision. “We don’t accept this arbitrary decision; it’s an assault on people’s right to protest.” In a strongly worded statement, CJP questioned why Prime Minister Narendra Modi was “scared of Jantar Mantar” and challenged the Ministry of Home Affairs to clarify whether citizens, organisations or other stakeholders had been consulted before the decision was taken. 
Meanwhile, waving giant India flags and chanting “vote thief”, thousands of protesters poured onto the streets of New Delhi on Monday to demand the resignation of the CEC. They were marching to the Supreme Court in the capital.
INDIA bloc leaders, led by Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the Election Commission of India, alleging large-scale voter deletions and irregularities in the electoral roll revisions. The petition is likely to be heard today. The protest march, led by Rahul, was the latest in a series of rallies in the capital over a large-scale voter roll revision that critics say could benefit Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.
At a press conference, Rahul claimed that around 200 officials working under the Modi-led government were in touch with the Opposition and passing on information. He said the officials included people from agencies and departments such as the ED, CBI and MEA. 
The Congress leader did not publicly disclose the identities of the officials or provide details of the information he claimed they were sharing. 
He sought to project the ongoing agitation against the CEC as a unified movement, insisting that there were no parallel protests.