Indian voting changes sparking gen Z anger on the streets

For almost two weeks, demonstrators have taken to the streets of New Delhi demanding the resignation of India's election commissioner.

The demonstrations have been spearheaded by multiple groups, including the opposition Congress party, the All India Students Association and the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP).

In response to the gatherings, India's government has cracked down hard on protesters.

Over the last week, police have arrested journalists, shut down the internet and targeted social media accounts of protest groups and independent media.

They have also blockaded the central city and detained demonstrators to stop groups gathering in one location.

But the rallies are continuing and are likely to have a long tail.

Here's what you need to know about what demonstrators are demanding, and why.

The electoral change that sparked protests

The protests date back to a change made in June last year, when India's Election Commission announced the country's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process would be revised in Bihar, ahead of its state election.

The SIR has been around since the 1950s and was a relatively routine exercise to make sure electoral rolls were up to date.

The commission said a revision was needed to remove deceased voters, duplicate registrations and ineligible entries, while ensuring eligible citizens remained registered.

The revision was opposed by federal and state opposition because the commission changed how voters were verified, meaning that anyone enrolled to vote after 2003 was required to provide documents proving their date and place of birth.

The SIR has been going for more than 18 months and now covers most Indian states. As a result, more than 130 million names have been dropped from the draft electoral roll.

Critics allege the mass deletion of names includes many who are not typical BJP voters. They say it has placed a disproportionate burden of proof on migrants, elderly voters and millions of Indians living in poverty who may have difficulty finding family records.

The election commission has said its draft roll and corrections are being made to include eligible voters.

Last year, Congress Party leader Rahul Gandhi called the SIR "a new weapon for vote theft".

How is Gyanesh Kumar involved?

Gyanesh Kumar is one of the three electoral commissioners who oversees India's elections.

The 62-year-old is a career bureaucrat who was controversially appointed India's chief election commissioner in February last year.

Anger over the electoral changes have been building for some time, but reached a fever pitch in late September when The Indian Express newspaper revealed two of the other election commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, had expressed ongoing concerns about how the SIR was being conducted.

According to the newspaper, the commissioners raised objections at least 14 times over 10 months, including over unauthorised changes to voter-registration forms, voter deletions and decisions allegedly made without their knowledge by Mr Kumar.

Following The Indian Express investigation, the Election Commission said "differing views are a normal part of deliberation in any institution" and said all decisions made about the SIR had been unanimous.

But various groups, including the CJP, have now called for Mr Kumar to resign.

Removing Mr Kumar is not a simple process. He cannot be fired because his position is protected under India's constitution, though he can be impeached if parliament achieves a majority in both houses.

India's gen Z 'cockroach' protesters

Having emerged in May, the CJP has quickly risen in popularity among India's youth.

Its formation coincided with a wave of corruption allegations after the results of a fiercely competitive national medical entrance examination were cancelled after questions were leaked. It forced about 2 million students to sit the test again.

The "cockroaches" have since become one of the largest and most effective groups of demonstrators the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has ever seen.

In July, they held a protest against the BJP that successfully ousted the federal education minister and have recently been seeking to repeat their success.

But it is clear Modi does not want it happening again.

How has the Indian government reacted?

Delhi Police responded to the recent protests by deploying more than 33,000 police and paramilitary forces to control thousands trying to take part in the mass movement.

Demonstrators have been detained en masse to prevent large-scale gatherings. The government also shut down the internet in parts of the capital city.

Earlier this week, authorities removed Jantar Mantar, a historic protest venue near India's parliament, from the list of designated demonstration sites.

Instead, three new sites have been listed as protest venues. Two are at least 20 kilometres from central Delhi, and the third is booked out for the rest of the month.

The crackdown on leaders of the CJP has also been swift. Founder Abhijeet Dipke and several others were briefly detained when their flight into New Delhi landed on October 10.

"Modi, as PM, is an embarrassment to India," Mr Dipke said in a social media post soon after his release.

"Never has this country seen a bigger coward and bully."

On Tuesday, two CJP leaders, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, were arrested and jailed for five days after jumping a fence into Jantar Mantar and waving the Indian flag.

The pair were accused of trespassing, obstructing police and breaching bail conditions they had agreed to following their detention on the plane.