India detains protesters demanding election chief’s resignation

Indian police on Saturday detained dozens of youth protesters in New Delhi on the second straight day of demonstrations demanding the chief election commissioner’s resignation over alleged voter-roll irregularities.

The demonstrations have been backed by key opposition parties, including the popular Gen Z-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), who say voter-roll changes give an advantage to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

There was a heavy police presence around Jantar Mantar, a government-designated protest site in the heart of New Delhi, which remained sealed off behind police barricades.

Local media reports said more than 100 protesters demanding that Election Commission of India (ECI) chief Gyanesh Kumar step down were detained.

“Delhi Police must stop its crackdown on protesting students and activists,” CJP chief Abhijeet Dipke said in a social media post.

“Every attempt to suppress peaceful protesters will only bring more people to the streets and strengthen the march to Jantar Mantar,” Dipke added.

“Dissent is a democratic right. It cannot be crushed through intimidation or force”.

Delhi police did not comment on the reported detentions but warned that “unauthorised gatherings”, processions and demonstrations were prohibited around Jantar Mantar.

“No permission has been granted for any protest scheduled for today… nor has any prior intimation regarding any such protest been received by New Delhi District Police,” police said.

Anti-government activist Yogendra Yadav said: “If a designated protest site cannot accommodate peaceful dissent, where does democracy leave room for protest?”

‘Peaceful dissent’

A newspaper investigation by The Indian Express last month alleged impropriety during a large-scale voter-roll revision that left millions of names struck from the lists.

The Election Commission of India has rejected allegations of wrongdoing. Kumar himself has not commented.

On Friday, hundreds of protesters gathered on roads around Jantar Mantar and in Mumbai’s Shivaji Park.

The protest in Mumbai was the first major demonstration by the CJP — which began in May as a satirical online movement — since July, when their nationwide campaign helped oust the education minister.

Just as they did in July, Indian authorities reportedly cut off mobile internet services around protest areas on Friday.

In July, protesters used mobile apps to circumvent the internet ban.

One of those was Bitchat, a peer-to-peer messaging system that relies on Bluetooth to link people who are nearby into an ad-hoc network without using the internet.

US tech entrepreneur Jack Dorsey, who co-founded Twitter (now known as X) and developed Bitchat, said that New Delhi had ordered its removal from Apple’s App store.

In his post on X, Dorsey included a screenshot of a notification from Apple that said the app “includes content that is illegal in India”.

New Delhi did not immediately comment about the decision.

Opposition parties have announced plans for more protests, including a march to the election commission in New Delhi on Tuesday and “Save Democracy” rallies countrywide afterwards.

The CJP has called for a “massive mobilisation of young Indians” in New Delhi on Oct 10. Other opposition parties and activists have also backed the protest call.

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