Police in New Delhi detained demonstrators for a second day as groups protested voter-roll revisions and demanded that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resign.
Indian police detained demonstrators in New Delhi on Saturday during a second day of protests against changes to voter rolls and calls for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to resign. Reuters said the marches were backed by the Gen Z-led Cockroach Janta Party and other opposition groups.
About 100 people removed security barricades and chanted for Kumar to step down before some were detained, a Reuters witness reported. The Hindu said Delhi Police detained around 150 protesters marching from Patel Chowk toward Jantar Mantar, including student leader Neha Bora and activists Yogendra Yadav, Anjali Bharadwaj and Prashant Bhushan. Independent MP Kapil Sibal joined the march and was not detained, The Hindu said.
Critics say a special intensive revision of electoral rolls has removed millions of eligible voters. The Election Commission says the exercise is meant to remove duplicate, deceased or ineligible entries.
Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi launched a digital platform called Satyagraha to map resistance movements. The Hindu reported he later said the site received more than 10,000 responses in nine hours. He also said the prime minister and other office-holders were illegal occupants of their posts, a claim not accepted in the reports reviewed as an official finding.
The commission has not announced a new timetable in response to the weekend detentions. Further protests were expected as the dispute over the rolls continued.
People Sentiments Negative
- Protesters chanted for Gyanesh Kumar to step down, Reuters reported.
- Gandhi said the Satyagraha platform drew more than 10,000 responses in nine hours, The Hindu reported.