The Left took to the streets for the second consecutive day in the national capital on Jattvibeday, demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. CPI(M) MP John Brittas was dragged away and allegedly assaulted by Delhi Police personnel.CPI leaders D Raja and Annie Raja, along with Students’ Federation of India (SFI) national president Adarsh M Saji, its Delhi state secretary Sooraj Elamon and All India Students’ Association (AISA) president Neha Bora, were detained.Saji, Elamon and several members of Left student organisations, including AISA and SFI, alleged that they were assaulted by security personnel, moved from one police station to another in vehicles and later dropped at different locations.On the second day of the protests, opposition parties, particularly the Congress, the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the Samajwadi Party and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), were conspicuous by their absence.Brittas was taken to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital (RML), where CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby, former Kerala minister Thomas Isaac and Rajya Sabha MPs V Sivadasan and A A Rahim, among others, met him.Speaking from his hospital bed, Brittas said he would not stop protesting “until normalcy is restored” in the country.“We won’t budge an inch till normalcy prevails in India. No force can stop us from asserting our right to dissent. We have been on the streets for the past several days, and we will continue to move ahead,” he told The Tribune.The Rajya Sabha MP said he was speaking to the media when CRPF personnel dragged him away.“I was pinned down and assaulted. I was protesting peacefully without violating any rules. It was only when the DCP came to know about the turn of events that I was dropped by the roadside and put in an autorickshaw,” he said, adding that the Delhi Police was paying no heed to the Supreme Court’s directive against detaining or harassing peaceful protesters.“Delhi Police has crossed all limits,” the CPI(M) said in a post on X, sharing a video of Brittas sitting near a Delhi Police bus, with another person helping him walk as he struggled to get up. A Delhi Police personnel is also seen helping the MP walk towards an autorickshaw.SFI national president Adarsh M Saji and Delhi state secretary Sooraj Elamon were also allegedly assaulted by security personnel and dragged away from the Connaught Place area in central Delhi.“Security forces have come down heavily on Left student leaders as well as senior leaders. Apart from MP Brittas, AISF national functionary Dinesh was brutally beaten by the police in Delhi. SFI secretary Sreejan Bhattacharya, SFI Central Executive Committee member Abhijith Manilal and hundreds of other activists were attacked and detained at Rajiv Chowk while marching towards Jantar Mantar. Saji was bleeding from his forehead,” CPI(M) worker Suresh K said.He alleged that the detainees were also taken to undisclosed locations.Visuals from the protest site showed demonstrators marching towards Jantar Mantar and raising slogans of “Gyanesh Kumar isteefa do” (Gyanesh Kumar, resign). Security personnel moved in to detain them. Several protesters were seen resisting as they were dragged towards police buses.In a statement, the SFI said its all-India president, Adarsh M Saji, Delhi state secretary Sooraj Elamon, Central Executive Committee member Abhijith Manilal and hundreds of its members were attacked and detained at Rajiv Chowk.“In the video, you can see blood coming out of Adarsh’s forehead. These will not be forgotten. We will keep coming out on the streets. The protests will be multiplied in all corners of the country!” the statement said.In a video, Saji was seen questioning the police action, saying the protesters did not understand what their crime was, as they were demonstrating peacefully.AISA president Neha Bora alleged that the buses used by the police to detain protesters had four “cells” and offered barely enough room to breathe. She also accused police personnel of kicking male protesters.Delhi witnessed its biggest security lockdown since the Covid-19 pandemic ahead of the protests on October 10. More than 26,000 police personnel were deployed across the city, barricades were erected at several locations, and the police prepared 12 detention centres.