New Delhi [India], October 9 – The founder of India’s Cockroach Janata Party, Abhijeet Dipke, has vowed to go ahead with a protest in New Delhi on Saturday demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, despite claims that thousands of his supporters have been detained.
Reuters reported on Friday that Dipke estimated the number of detained supporters to run into the thousands, although the news agency said it could not immediately verify the claims or videos posted on social media.
“I’ll be landing in Delhi tomorrow and will march to Jantar Mantar, come what may,” Dipke said in a post on X.
“The youth of this country are no longer scared of you,” he added, addressing Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The protest centres on a controversial revision of India’s electoral rolls that has removed 130 million voters from the lists nationwide, according to Reuters. The exercise has triggered demands from the youth movement, opposition parties and student groups for Kumar to resign.
Police in New Delhi said the Cockroach Janata Party did not have permission to hold Saturday’s protest and could face legal action if demonstrators violated the rules.
Thousands of police and paramilitary personnel were being brought into the capital, including forces from sensitive areas such as Indian-administered Kashmir, according to a government document seen by Reuters.
The security measures have also affected transport. Some long-distance trains to New Delhi scheduled for Saturday were cancelled, while authorities asked for reduced metro services and the closure of some station exits, citing the possibility of “unruly” crowds, according to documents seen by Reuters.
Opposition parties and critics argue that the voter roll revision could disenfranchise millions of people and benefit Prime Minister Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). They have called for the exercise to be scrapped and the previous voter lists restored.
The Election Commission maintains that the figures refer to voter entries flagged during a draft revision process that is still incomplete. It has also said people whose names were wrongly removed can enrol again.
Meanwhile, the opposition Congress party led by Rahul Gandhi has called a meeting of leaders from more than a dozen parties opposed to Modi and the BJP. The opposition bloc is also scheduled to meet President Droupadi Murmu on Friday evening.
India began the voter verification exercise last year ahead of elections in Bihar and has since extended it to most states, Reuters reported.
