More than 2,000 protesters, including the founder of India’s “Cockroach” youth movement, were detained in Delhi as demonstrators took to the streets demanding the resignation of the country’s election chief.
Thousands of police and paramilitary officers were deployed across the capital as authorities moved to contain the protests.
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Mobile internet access was cut in the central business district, while dozens of metro stations and markets were closed in an effort to prevent the demonstrations from spreading.
The protesters are targeting Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over a revision of voter lists that critics say has disproportionately favored Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
A home ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said more than 2,000 people had been detained in Delhi.
Local media reported that about 400 protesters were detained in Mumbai, India’s financial hub.
Police did not immediately comment on the reported detentions.
A protester is carried away by police officers in New Delhi, India
Smaller demonstrations were also reported at locations across Delhi, including a popular crafts market and the memorial to freedom movement leader Mahatma Gandhi. Protesters at both sites called for Mr Kumar to step down.
“Long live the revolution,” some young demonstrators shouted as police pursued them and detained others, loading them onto buses.
“This is violating the rights of the people and the country will not tolerate this anymore,” protester Yogendra Solanki said as officers escorted him away.
The UN office for the high commissioner for human rights called on India to immediately release people it said had been “arbitrarily detained” during protests over alleged misconduct by electoral authorities.
“We are concerned by reports of mass detentions in India of demonstrators, protest leaders, members of civil society organisations, lawyers and journalists, before and during today’s large-scale demonstrations in Delhi,” the office said in a statement.
Movement leaders detained
Police detained Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke and senior leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka after their flight from Mumbai landed in Delhi, the group said.
Television footage showed Mr Dipke confronting officers who approached him aboard the aircraft.
“I have come to be arrested, arrest me … I am not afraid of you guys,” he said.
Students climb on police barricades as they participate in protests in Bengaluru, India
The movement denounced what it described as the “authoritarian detention” of its leaders, demanded their release and promised to continue its campaign.
“We will continue our protest tomorrow, day after … until Gyanesh Kumar resigns. We will be on the streets,” CJP leader Ajinkya Shinde told reporters.
CJP said authorities had declined to provide information about the leaders’ whereabouts or health, even after the group learned that Mr Dipke’s grandmother had died.
Police said Mr Dipke was told of her death and offered assistance to return home for the funeral.
Television channels also showed opposition lawmakers and former chief ministers Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal, Arvind Kejriwal of Delhi and Pinarayi Vijayan of Kerala being detained.
Representatives of two digital news organisations said police briefly detained four of their reporters as they covered the protests.
A Reuters journalist was also detained briefly before being released
Across the capital, home to about 20 million people, security forces established checkpoints on major roads and at entry points. Officers boarded buses in search of protesters and inspected vehicles.
Barricades and concrete blocks snarled traffic, while anti-riot vehicles fitted with tear-gas launchers guarded key routes.
New challenge to Modi
The demonstrations mark one of the most serious challenges yet to Mr Modi, driven by allegations that election authorities improperly altered voter rolls ahead of recent state elections.
Anger intensified after the Indian Express reported last week that two election commissioners had raised questions about Mr Kumar’s revisions, which removed roughly 130 million names from voter lists.
Mr Kumar has not commented, while the Election Commission and the BJP have rejected allegations of wrongdoing.
The BJP says its electoral success reflects Mr Modi’s popularity and India’s economic growth and accuses opposition parties of spreading misinformation (file pic)
The near-daily protests follow demonstrations over exam paper leaks just months ago, unrest that forced the education minister to resign.
Rahul Gandhi, leader of the main opposition Congress party, said Mr Modi’s opponents would not retreat.
Ravi Shankar Prasad, a senior BJP member, said the party did not oppose demonstrations but accused rivals who had lost elections of having “weaponised” the street protests.
The unrest comes before a series of important state elections due to begin in early 2027.
Deletions affected state poll, opposition alleges
Opposition parties say the deletions influenced the outcome of recent state elections won by the BJP, casting a shadow over voting in the world’s largest democracy.
Election Commission data show that about 130 million voter entries were removed during the verification exercise. The total included 63 million people who had moved, 30 million who could not be traced and 28 million who had died.
The commission said the removals involved entries identified during the draft revision process and that any eligible voter removed by mistake could enrol again.
