Delhi a fortress as 'cockroach' protesters show no sign of backing down
New Delhi's Supreme Court is expected to hold a hearing on alleged vote rigging today, as protesters show no sign of backing down in the Indian capital.
Six major metro stations in the Indian capital were closed yesterday and thousands of security personnel deployed to try to deter protesters attending the third straight day of protests, but protesters defied police barricades to join in the march.
Rahul Gandhi, the country's main opposition Congress Party, waved a copy of the constitution as he led Monday evening's procession to the city's highest court.
Protesters breach police barricades in New Delhi. (AP: Prabhat Mehrotra)
Opposition parties and supporters of the "cockroach" youth movement are demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the removal of millions of names from voter lists.
The change has seen more than 130 million names struck from voter lists, including 28 million who had died, 63 million who had relocated, and 30 million who could not be traced.
But critics claim the move benefits India Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The Election Commission of India has denied wrongdoing, saying wrongly deleted voters can re-enrol.
Thousands of security personnel have been deployed across New Delhi. (AP: Manish Swarup)
The petition lodged with the court on Monday night local time alleges irregularities in the nationwide revision of voter lists.
It seeks an audit of voter deletions, safeguards against deletions without notice, a hearing, and an interim suspension of the revision nationwide.
The petition is expected to be heard by the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
Police shut down protest site
The protests have become a major political challenge for Mr Modi, drawing together opposition parties, student groups and activists led by the Cockroach Party movement.
Opposition figures have accused authorities of trying to suppress dissent through mass detentions, but the BJP said the protests were an attempt by the main opposition party Congress to seize power.
The protest is in response to a controversial revision of voter lists. (Reuters: Priyanshu Singh)
"By discrediting constitutional institutions, spreading chaos and riots on the streets, and attacking people in the name of politics, all it seeks is a return to power," Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said.
Barricades block every arterial road leading to Jantar Mantar, a a decades-long hub for protests.
But Delhi Police have now banned the location as a protest site, identifying three new venues instead.
Leader of the Samajwadi Party, Akhilesh Yadav, vows to continue the protest, saying banning the site was "the biggest defeat for the BJP government".
"To avoid public outrage, it wants to keep the people away from the places where the rulers sit," he wrote on X.
Monday's protest came after police detained thousands of activists over the weekend in a sweeping crack down on New Delhi.
Most of those detained, including three top leaders of the "cockroach" movement, have since been released.
Parliamentarian John Brittas of the Communist Party of India alleged he was "manhandled, dragged, assaulted" by police during Sunday's demonstrations.
"This is not merely an assault on an MP. It is an assault on democratic freedoms and the rule of law,"
he said.
A protester who was detained, Abhita Ruheja, said the authorities had turned Delhi into a fortress.
"Is this how a democracy works?" she asked.
"They have been scrapping rights after rights and this is turning into a dictatorship."
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