Police in the Indian capital detained scores of demonstrators on Saturday as thousands of security personnel patrolled the city. Travel and telecom services were suspended in a lockdown meant to stop a youth-led rally demanding the resignation of the country’s chief election official.
The “Cockroach” youth movement called the Delhi youth protest to press for the exit of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Critics say a revision of the voter lists favors Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Scores Detained Across Central Delhi
Television footage showed police in New Delhi’s central business district running after a few dozen young protesters, some of them carrying backpacks. They were put into vehicles and driven away.
A police source told Reuters that around 200 protesters were detained in that area. A police spokesperson said those held outside Delhi included Dhruv Rathee, a popular YouTuber who supports the protest.
Reuters witnesses said metro stations and markets were shut and mobile internet was suspended. Police stopped people at entry points to the city, boarded buses to look for protesters and searched cars and other vehicles. Barricades and concrete blocks blocked traffic, and anti-riot vehicles fitted with tear gas guns stood on key routes.
Organizers Say the Lockdown Shows Fear
Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which called the protest, asked why the prime minister was “so scared” of the country’s youth and people. He spoke just before leaving for Delhi.
Dipke told the news agency ANI in Mumbai that closing the railways, the metro, the internet and the roads was “nothing but fear.” The protesters had planned to gather at 10 a.m. at Jantar Mantar, a site in central New Delhi that authorities have designated for demonstrations.
Why the Delhi Youth Protest Matters
The CJP billed the rally as an effort to “Save Democracy.” It was planned as the largest in a series of protests that began last week, after the Indian Express reported that Kumar’s deputies had questioned and disagreed with him over the voter list revisions. Those revisions removed about 130 million voters, a figure larger than the population of Japan.
Opposition parties have long accused the government of shaping voter lists in its favor, and they quickly revived the charge after the report. Kumar has not commented. The Election Commission and the BJP have both denied the allegations.
The BJP credits Modi’s popularity and India’s economic growth for its electoral dominance. It accuses opposition parties of misleading the public because they cannot win elections.
A Fresh Political Test for Modi
The near-daily protests are a new challenge for Modi. Only months ago, similar demonstrations over exam paper leaks forced his education minister to resign. They also come ahead of a series of major state elections starting in early 2027, including one in Uttar Pradesh, the country’s most populous state, which the BJP governs.
On Friday, Delhi police said they had not approved the protest and that violators would face legal action. In a statement, police described the curbs as “temporary and precautionary,” meant to regulate movement, prevent overcrowding, maintain public order and protect the safety of protesters and others in the affected areas. CJP leaders rejected the decision and said they would go ahead, calling protest a fundamental right.
The Voter List Dispute
The protesters accuse the BJP of using the voter list revision to influence election results, in collusion with its appointees in the Election Commission, Kumar among them. Opposition parties say the deletions affected the outcome of some recent state elections won by the BJP. They add that the issue has cast doubt on the electoral process in the world’s largest democracy.
Election Commission data, which the BJP has also cited, shows about 130 million names were removed from the lists during the verification exercise. That total includes 63 million people who relocated, 30 million who could not be traced and 28 million who had died.
The commission says the figure reflects entries flagged at the draft revision stage and that the exercise is not yet complete. It adds that anyone wrongly removed can register again.