Top BJP leaders including Arun Jaitley today held protests against the Election Commission and the Returning Officer who had denied permission to Narendra Modi for holding a public meeting at a venue of his choice here.
Along with Amit Shah and Ananth Kumar, Jaitley sat on dharna at the gate of the Banaras Hindu University attacking the alleged partisan attitude of Returning Officer Pranjal Yadav and demanded his removal.
Chaos prevailed in the area with a huge crowd of party supporters gathered there, adding to the mess in the area contributed by the presence of a hospital and a market.
Even before the top BJP leaders arrived for dharna, party workers and local leaders had begun protesting from early in the morning, disrupting traffic.
Rapid Action Force and police personnel were deployed in large numbers at the protest venue, while media was also present in large numbers.
The protestors were shouting slogans for removal of District Magistrate Pranjal Yadav, who is also serving as returning officer for Lok Sabha polls scheduled for May 12.
Modi was yesterday denied permission for holding a public meeting at a venue of its choice here following which the party announced protests while cancelling all his programmes here today.
The party demanded immediate removal of Varanasi Returning Officer Yadav who late in the night said he has given the nod to four of the five events for which BJP sought permission. The party, however, had rejected the gesture saying it came too late in the day.
As per schedule, Modi will arrive at BHU helipad in a helicopter before proceeding towards his central election office here.
