Protests erupt in New Delhi demanding resignation of election chief
New Delhi braced for a second day of youth protests demanding the resignation of India‘s election chief on Sunday, as a court ordered the release of “cockroach” movement founder Abhijeet Dipke and two other senior leaders, reports BritPanorama.
Dipke, the founder of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), and the other leaders were detained when their plane landed in Delhi on Saturday, just as the movement was set to gather thousands at Jantar Mantar in Central Delhi.
They were presented in front of a magistrate early on Sunday.
“Condition — no breach of peace for one year,” the CJP’s legal head Ratna Singh announced on X after their release.
Activist and social media influencer Dhruv Rathee, also detained, was released past midnight under the condition he refrained from further protests, according to an unnamed interior ministry official.
Police detained more than 2,000 individuals and locked down Delhi’s city center to obstruct Saturday’s protest, with a heavy deployment of police and paramilitary personnel continuing across the city on Sunday. Metro stations reopened, and mobile internet services were restored.
Most detainees from the first day of protests were released late Saturday night, according to police reports.
Opposition parties and critics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government condemned what they termed high-handed force against the protesters, while a U.N. body urged authorities to respect and uphold the right to peaceful assembly.
India‘s foreign ministry responded by characterizing the U.N.’s stance as “selective” and termed its statement an “unwarranted interference” in India’s internal matters.
The protests are calling for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar due to concerns surrounding a revision of voter lists perceived to disproportionately benefit Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has held power for over 12 years.
Sporadic protests have been ongoing across India since a late September report by the Indian Express revealed internal concerns raised by Kumar’s two deputies regarding voter list revisions, registration processes, and digital systems.
The Commission maintains that differing views are commonplace in internal deliberations and denies any favoritism towards a particular party.
The BJP contends that opposition groups aim to undermine the country’s democracy by casting aspersions on legitimate electoral processes.
According to Election Commission data cited by the BJP, roughly 130 million names—more than Japan’s total population—have been removed from electoral rolls during the verification exercise, including about 63 million individuals who relocated and 30 million who could not be traced.
While the BJP and the Commission reject manipulation allegations, opposition parties assert that the deletions disproportionately affect Muslim voters and other minorities unlikely to support the Hindu nationalist ruling party.
Initially starting as an online satire, the cockroach party has quickly transformed into a pressure group with street protests against exam paper leaks, resulting in the resignation of Modi’s education minister.
The CJP has branded its ongoing protests against Kumar as “Season 2” on social media, vowing to persist until reforms are instituted in India’s election system.
