Saurabh Sharma, Aftab Ahmed and Sarita Chaganti Singh
New Delhi: Central Delhi was sealed on Saturday, with thousands of police and paramilitaries on patrol, metro stations shut, mobile internet suspended and markets closed, to guard against a youth protest demanding India’s chief election officer quit.
The protest, called by the “Cockroach” youth movement, hopes to draw thousands of demonstrators who want Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to quit over a revision of voter lists that critics say favours Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.
Touted by the organisers as a protest to “Save Democracy”, it aims to be the biggest of the demonstrations that were launched last week after The Indian Express newspaper reported that Kumar’s deputies had questioned and disagreed with him over the revision process in which some 130 million voter names were removed.
Opposition parties have long alleged that the government is trying to fix voter lists to its advantage and were quick to resurrect the allegations following the report. Kumar has not commented but the Election Commission and the BJP have denied the allegations.
The BJP says Modi’s popularity and India’s economic growth are some key reasons for its electoral dominance and that opposition parties are misleading the country as they are unable to win elections.
Nonetheless, the near daily protests by opposition groups pose a new political challenge to Modi, just months after similar demonstrations forced his education minister to quit over exam paper leaks.
It also comes months before a series of key state elections starting in early 2027, including in the BJP-ruled, most populous state of Uttar Pradesh.
The protesters, led by the self-named “Cockroach Janta Party” (CJP), which began as an online satire, have said they will gather at Jantar Mantar – a site designated for protests by authorities in the heart of New Delhi – at 10am (3.30pm AEDT).
Delhi Police said on Friday that they had not given permission for the protest as the request did not come on time, CJP had violated undertakings given during previous protests, and that authorities had to enforce the law and maintain peace.
Police also said protesters would face the force of the law if they violated the ban. CJP leaders rejected the police decision and said they would go ahead with the protest as it was their fundamental right.
In what is seen as a bid to thwart protesters arriving in Delhi and the central business district where Jantar Mantar is located, several long-distance trains to the city were cancelled on Friday and 57 metro stations shut from Friday night. Mobile internet services within a radius of four kilometres of the protest area were ordered suspended from Friday night to Saturday night, the ANI News agency reported, citing a government order.
Reuters
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