INDIA bloc to hold mega protest in Delhi on October 12, TMC says Mamata Banerjee to join

The INDIA bloc is gearing up for a mega protest on Monday, sources said. This comes as the crackdown in Delhi continued on Saturday over protests against CEC Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Follow live updates on the Delhi protest here.

TMC chief and former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has decided to stay in the national capital and join INDIA bloc's protest on Monday.

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Banerjee reversed her travel plans and decided to extend her stay in Delhi, canceling her scheduled return to Kolkata.

Meanwhile, on Saturday afternoon, Banerjee was detained. Earlier, she sat on dharna on the road near South Avenue bus stand, as HT reported earlier.

Also Read | Dipke, Dhruv Rathee, Mamata, Pinarayi Vijayan: Key leaders, CJP face detention on protest day | Full list

Dipke, Rathee detained; metro stations affected - What happened in Delhi

The police launched a crackdown in the national capital, detaining CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke and YouTuber Dhruv Rathee.

Rathee, who lives abroad, had come to join the demonstration against the CEC. He was detained from his residence in Gurugram.

Amid the protests, 45 metro stations were affected in Delhi.

Meanwhile, AAP convenor and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was detained by Delhi Police on Saturday after he stepped out to protest over the CEC row.

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The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) had called the protests against the CEC over alleged irregularities in the SIR process.

'Rahul Gandhi tried to pull the President to anarchism': BJP

Addressing a press conference on Saturday, BJP leader Sambit Patra called Congress leader Rahul Gandhi a "nalayak" leader, condemning his Friday remarks that President Droupadi Murmu did not deny the INDIA bloc's "vote chori" allegation at a meeting.

"Yesterday a few politicians visited the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The statement of Rahul Gandhi after coming out of the Rashtrapati Bhavan was like that of a 'nalayak neta'," Patra said.

"Never before was an attempt made to drag the President into a street protest. But a 'nalayak neta' attempted to do that. The anarchist Rahul Gandhi tried to pull the President of India to the anarchism, which he is trying his best to conduct on the streets of India," the leader added.

TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee, who had returned to Kolkata, will also travel to Delhi and take part in the protest.