Indian police have detained dozens of protesters and their leaders in the capital, New Delhi, as thousands of security personnel patrol the city amid a lockdown to prevent youth-led protests demanding the resignation of the election chief.
Travel and telecommunications services have also been suspended.
The protest, organised by the “Cockroach” youth movement, aimed to mobilise thousands of demonstrators against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over a revision of voter lists that critics say favours Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Police also detained ‘Cockroach Janta Party’ founder Abhijeet Dipke and senior leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka as the aircraft bringing them to Delhi arrived from Mumbai, CJP said in a statement.
CJP condemned the “authoritarian detention” of its leaders, which it called a “pre-planned interception” aimed at crippling the leadership of Saturday’s rally and demanded their immediate release.
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Some lawyers protesting outside the Supreme Court were also picked up, the president of its bar association posted on X.
across the city of 20 million, 45 metro stations and markets were shut and mobile internet suspended in the central business district.
The protesters aimed to gather at Jantar Mantar, a protest site designated by authorities in the heart of New Delhi, at 10 a.m., but security curbs delayed their schedule.
The protest, which the CJP called an effort to “Save Democracy”, is planned as the biggest of a series of demonstrations launched last week.
That number exceeds the population of Japan.
Opposition parties have long accused the government of trying to fix voter lists to its advantage and were quick to resurrect the allegations following the report.
The BJP says Modi’s popularity and India’s economic growth are key reasons for its electoral dominance and accuses opposition parties of misleading the country as they are unable to win elections.
However, daily protests by opposition groups pose a new political challenge to Modi, just months after similar demonstrations forced his education minister to quit over exam paper leaks.
They also come months before a series of key state elections starting in early 2027.
On Friday, Delhi police said they had not given permission for the protest and violators would face the law, but the CJP stuck to its plan on grounds of exercising a fundamental right.
The protesters accuse the BJP of using the revision of voter lists to sway election results, in collusion with its appointees in the Election Commission, including Kumar.
Opposition parties say the voter deletions affected the outcome of some recent state elections won by the BJP, and have cast a shadow on elections in the world’s largest democracy.
Election Commission data shows about 130 million names, have been deleted from voter lists during the verification exercise, including 63 million who relocated, 30 million who could not be traced, and 28 million dead.
The commission says the count represents voter entries flagged during the draft revision stage and voters wrongly removed can enroll again.
