Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien walks out of Shakespeare Sarani Police Station after being questioned by Kolkata Police in connection with a scuffle at party leader Abhishek Banerjee's Camac Street office, in Kolkata, Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026. The questioning pertains to clashes that broke out during the removal of an unauthorised billboard by Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) officials and police personnel. (PTI Photo/Swapan Mahapatra)(PTI09_02_2026_000266B)
New Delhi: Trinamool Congress joint secretary Derek O’Brien on Friday, October 2, invoked Mahatma Gandhi, marking his birth anniversary, as he underscored the importance of the protests against the Election Commission of India.
“On Gandhi Jayanti, as nationwide protests begin against the Election Commission (EC), some sage words from the Mahatma,” O’Brien said in a post on X, sharing Gandhi’s remarks on public institutions.
“A public institution means an institution conducted with the approval, and from the funds, of the public. When such an institution ceases to have public support, it forfeits its right to exist,” the leader of the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC quoted Gandhi as saying.
The post comes against the backdrop of protest calls in Delhi and Mumbai on Friday over the functioning of the poll panel.
In Delhi, activists and student leaders have called for a gathering at Jantar Mantar seeking action against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Delhi Police has not granted permission for the proposed gathering.
In Mumbai, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), led by Abhijeet Dipke, has announced a protest at Shivaji Park to press for Kumar’s resignation. The group was denied permission for the gathering and subsequently announced a ‘Jail Bharo Andolan’.
The protests come amid a controversy over the alleged irregularities in the functioning of the EC, following allegations by opposition parties about the poll panel’s handling of electoral roll revision and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
An investigation by The Indian Express last month claimed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi objected on record at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders on the SIR that they said were issued without their knowledge or recommendation, terming specific changes made to voter enrolment forms “unauthorised” and “illegal”.
The Election Commission has rejected suggestions of a split within the three-member panel and maintained that decisions relating to SIR were taken unanimously.
The INDIA bloc has also announced a week-long ‘Save Democracy’ campaign from October 2 to 8, with protests to be held across the country.
Opposition MPs are scheduled to march to the Election Commission’s office in Delhi on October 6 as part of the campaign against the poll panel’s functioning and the SIR exercise.
This post was last modified on October 2, 2026 12:36 pm