{"id":2544,"date":"2026-10-12T11:03:44","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T06:03:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2544"},"modified":"2026-10-12T11:03:44","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T06:03:44","slug":"delhi-shuts-metro-stations-restricts-traffic-ahead-of-new-protest-against-election-chief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2544","title":{"rendered":"Delhi shuts metro stations, restricts traffic ahead of new protest against election chief"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Authorities closed six metro stations and warned of traffic disruptions in Delhi \u200bon Monday, as opposition parties planned to march to the Supreme Court in protest against a controversial revision of \u200cvoter lists<\/a> that has sparked days of unrest in the Indian capital.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Opposition parties and supporters of the \u201ccockroach\u201d youth movement have taken to the streets almost daily this month to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar<\/a> over the revision that critics say benefits Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s Bharatiya Janata \u200bParty (BJP).<\/p>\n

The revision that started last year saw over 130 million names \u2013 more than the population of Japan \u2013 being deleted \u200bfrom voter lists, including the dead, the relocated and people who could not be traced.<\/p>\n

Police detained thousands of protesters<\/a> in \u2060Delhi over the weekend, including leaders of the \u2018Cockroach Janta Party\u2019 (CJP), as supporters of the youth movement sought to march in protest \u200band were stopped by thousands of security personnel who locked down central Delhi.<\/p>\n

The Election Commission has denied favouring any party and said \u200bwrongly deleted voters can re-enrol, while the BJP has accused its rivals of trying to undermine the country\u2019s democracy by wrongly questioning legitimate electoral processes.<\/p>\n

Six metro stations were closed on Monday for \u201csecurity reasons\u201d, and police imposed traffic restrictions and diversions along over 20 stretches.<\/p>\n

The main opposition Congress party announced a march \u200bto the Supreme Court to submit a memorandum to the Chief Justice demanding an end to what it calls \u201cvote theft\u201d and Kumar\u2019s \u200bresignation.<\/p>\n

\u201cYouth, all opposition parties, civil society groups, all those who believe in democracy and stand by the Constitution of India, will walk with us,\u201d \u200cCongress \u2060leader Rahul Gandhi said on X.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Cockroach movement to seek permission for new protest<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Chief Justice Surya Kant, however, declined the meeting request in an email, saying Gandhi and the Congress delegation should instead approach the court legally since the issue is already being heard by the court and should be addressed through judicial proceedings, a Congress source said.<\/p>\n

Separately, the CJP said its leaders would meet Delhi Police \u200bto \u201cdemand\u201d a date for a peaceful \u200bprotest.<\/p>\n

It has threatened \u2060to announce a new protest call if a date is not given within 24 hours.<\/p>\n

The youth movement, which has mobilised protests<\/a> in recent months against issues ranging from government school infrastructure to jobs, is \u200bone of the biggest political challenges to Modi and his BJP in his 12 years \u200bin power.<\/p>\n

The protests erupted \u2060after the Indian Express newspaper reported last month that Kumar\u2019s two deputies raised several concerns internally about voter list revisions, registration procedures and digital systems.<\/p>\n

Election Commission data shows about 130 million names have been deleted from electoral rolls during the verification exercise, including 28 million \u2060people who \u200bhad died, 63 million who had relocated and 30 million who could not \u200bbe traced.<\/p>\n

Opposition parties allege Muslim voters and other minorities, who are unlikely to support the Hindu nationalist ruling party, are disproportionately affected by the deletions \u2013 charges both \u200bthe poll panel and BJP reject.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Authorities closed six metro stations and warned of traffic disruptions in Delhi \u200bon Monday, as opposition parties planned to march to the Supreme Court in protest against a controversial revision of \u200cvoter lists that has sparked days of unrest in the Indian capital. Opposition parties and supporters of the \u201ccockroach\u201d youth movement have taken to the streets almost daily this month to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the revision that critics say benefits Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s Bharatiya Janata \u200bParty (BJP). The revision that started…<\/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-2544","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\/2544","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=2544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2544\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}