{"id":2468,"date":"2026-10-10T23:03:55","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T18:03:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2468"},"modified":"2026-10-10T23:03:55","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T18:03:55","slug":"india-detains-thousands-locks-down-delhi-to-foil-election-chief-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2468","title":{"rendered":"India detains thousands, locks down Delhi to foil election chief protest"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Police detained more than 2,000 protesters and the founder of \u200bthe \u201cCockroach\u201d youth movement in Delhi on Saturday as security forces locked down parts of the capital to thwart a rally demanding the resignation of India\u2019s election chief.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thousands of police \u200cand paramilitary personnel were deployed across the city, mobile internet services were suspended in the central business district and dozens of metro stations and markets were shut as authorities moved to stop a demonstration organised by the Cockroach movement.<\/p>\n

The protest was aimed at Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over a revision of voter lists that critics say disproportionately benefits Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).<\/p>\n

The movement had planned to gather thousands of people at Jantar Mantar in central Delhi, but \u200bthe area was sealed off by security forces before the demonstration began.<\/p>\n

A home ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters more than 2,000 people were detained in Delhi. \u200bLocal media said about 400 protesters were held in India\u2019s financial hub, Mumbai.<\/p>\n

There was no immediate comment from police on the detentions.<\/p>\n

Small protests broke out elsewhere \u2060in Delhi, including at a popular crafts market and the memorial to freedom movement leader Mahatma Gandhi, with demonstrators demanding Kumar\u2019s resignation.<\/p>\n

\u201cLong live the revolution,\u201d some young protesters chanted as police chased them \u200band dragged scores of others into buses to be taken away, even as more arrived, a Reuters witness said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis is violating the rights of the people and the country will not tolerate this anymore,\u201d Yogendra \u200bSolanki told Reuters as police escorted him away.<\/p>\n

<\/a>MOVEMENT LEADERS HELD<\/h3>\n

Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke and senior leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka when their flight from Mumbai landed in Delhi, the group said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Television footage showed Dipke challenging officers who approached him on board the aircraft.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have come to be arrested, arrest me \u2026 I am not afraid of you guys,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, this is not an arrest,\u201d one officer replied. \u201cPlease cooperate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The movement condemned what \u200bit called the \u201cauthoritarian detention\u201d of its leaders, demanded their release and vowed to continue protesting.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue our protest tomorrow, day after \u2026 until Gyanesh Kumar resigns. We will be on the streets,\u201d CJP leader \u200bAjinkya Shinde told reporters.<\/p>\n

CJP also said authorities refused to provide updates on the leaders\u2019 whereabouts or health, even after news arrived of the death of Dipke\u2019s grandmother. Police said Dipke was informed of her death and was \u200coffered help to \u2060return home for the funeral.<\/p>\n

Some opposition lawmakers and former chief ministers Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal, Arvind Kejriwal of Delhi, and Pinarayi Vijayan of Kerala were also detained, TV channels showed.<\/p>\n

Representatives of two digital news outlets said police briefly detained four of their reporters while they were covering the demonstrations. A Reuters<\/em> journalist was also detained briefly before being released.<\/p>\n

Across the capital of about 20 million people, security forces set up checkpoints on major roads and entry points, boarded buses searching for protesters and inspected vehicles. Barricades and concrete blocks disrupted traffic while anti-riot vehicles equipped with tear-gas launchers guarded key routes.<\/p>\n

<\/a>NEW CHALLENGE TO MODI<\/h3>\n

The \u200bdemonstrations represent one of the most serious tests \u200byet for Modi, stemming from allegations that election \u2060authorities improperly revised voter rolls ahead of recent state polls.<\/p>\n

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Protests intensified after the Indian Express reported last week that two election commissioners had questioned Kumar\u2019s voter-list revisions that removed roughly 130 million names from voter lists.<\/p>\n

Kumar has not commented but the Election Commission and the BJP have denied allegations of wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

The \u200bBJP says its electoral success reflects Modi\u2019s popularity and India\u2019s economic growth, and accuses opposition parties of spreading misinformation.<\/p>\n

The near daily protests come just months after \u200bdemonstrations over exam paper leaks \u2060forced his education minister to quit.<\/p>\n

The unrest also comes ahead of a series of important state elections beginning in early 2027.<\/p>\n

Rahul Gandhi, leader of the main opposition Congress party, said Modi\u2019s opponents would not back down.<\/p>\n

A senior BJP member, Ravi Shankar Prasad, said the party was not opposed to demonstrations but the street protests had been \u201cweaponised\u201d by rivals due to election defeats.<\/p>\n

<\/a>DELETIONS AFFECTED STATE POLLS, OPPOSITION ALLEGES<\/h3>\n

Opposition parties say the deletions affected the outcome \u2060of recent \u200bstate elections won by the BJP and have cast a shadow over voting in the world\u2019s largest democracy.<\/p>\n

Election Commission data show \u200babout 130 million voter entries were removed during the verification exercise, including 63 million people who had relocated, 30 million who could not be traced and 28 million who had died.<\/p>\n

The commission says the removals relate to entries identified during the draft \u200brevision process and that any eligible voter incorrectly deleted can re-enrol.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Police detained more than 2,000 protesters and the founder of \u200bthe \u201cCockroach\u201d youth movement in Delhi on Saturday as security forces locked down parts of the capital to thwart a rally demanding the resignation of India\u2019s election chief. Thousands of police \u200cand paramilitary personnel were deployed across the city, mobile internet services were suspended in the central business district and dozens of metro stations and markets were shut as authorities moved to stop a demonstration organised by the Cockroach movement. The protest was aimed at Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2468\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}