New Delhi Authorities Detain Hundreds Amid Large-Scale Protests Against Election Commission

The leader of the “cockroach movement” was taken into custody on Saturday as hundreds of demonstrators converged on New Delhi.

This massive demonstration follows weeks of intense opposition mobilization sparked by allegations of misconduct during a nationwide voter-roll revision conducted by the Election Commission of India (ECI). Protesters are currently demanding the immediate resignation of the election commissioner.

The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) announced that its founder, Abhijeet Dipke, along with two other leaders, was detained upon arriving in the capital. In an official statement, the group claimed the leaders have been moved to an “undisclosed location,” where they are reportedly being denied legal counsel and all external communication.

Critics and opposition parties contend that the recent voter-roll revision could disenfranchise millions of citizens, potentially providing an unfair advantage to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The ECI has dismissed these claims of impropriety, maintaining that the revision process was strictly designed to eliminate duplicate and ineligible entries from the rolls.

Since Friday, Delhi has been under a heavy security lockdown. Tens of thousands of police and paramilitary officers have been deployed to prevent protesters from reaching central demonstration sites. To facilitate this crackdown, authorities have closed numerous metro stations, canceled various train services heading into Delhi, and implemented temporary mobile internet shutdowns in the vicinity of the protest zones.

Witnesses reported seeing dozens of protesters being removed by police vehicles after attempting to march toward Jantar Mantar in central Delhi while chanting anti-government slogans. While reports from The Hindu suggest that as many as 3,000 protesters have been detained, these figures have not yet been independently verified.

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