Dehradun, July 18 -- Senior Congress leaders, including state Congress president Karan Mahra and party's senior vice president (organisation) Suryakant Dhasmana, staged a hunger strike near the Uttarakhand Raj Bhavan on Thursday over the issue of duplication of candidates' names in multiple electoral rolls to contest the panchayat elections. They demanded the dismissal of State Election Commissioner (SEC) Sushil Kumar over alleged constitutional violations during panchayat elections. Dhasmana said over a dozen Congress leaders and workers , including him and the state Congress chief were detained by police and later released. "SEC is acting unconstitutionally by allegedly bypassing provisions of the Uttarakhand Panchayati Raj Act in recent correspondences," Dhasmana said. Reacting to Congress's protests and allegations against the State Election Commission over panchayat elections, BJP's Uttarakhand state media in-charge Manveer Singh Chauhan said that the opposition party's "disruptive tactics and misleading propaganda" have exposed its true political intentions. "Congress is attempting to obstruct the smooth functioning of the democratic process... The public is observing everything, and it will not forgive such behaviour," Chauhan said. SEC Sushil Kumar said, "As the matter is sub-judice, I will not like to comment at this juncture." htc...