On Saturday (October 10), law enforcement authorities in the Indian capital New Delhi deployed thousands of police and quasi-military personnel to block off the city center in order to prevent a large-scale protest against the clean-up of the voter list, resulting in over 2000 people being detained.
According to a report by Reuters on Saturday, the Delhi police set up roadblocks to intercept vehicles and pedestrians in the early hours of the morning. The authorities temporarily disrupted mobile networks in the central business district of Delhi and shut down dozens of metro stations and markets, with some intercity trains being canceled.
An official from the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs revealed that in Delhi, 2000 people were detained, including some opposition members of parliament and former state chief ministers. In the financial hub Mumbai, about 400 people were detained.
During the day, when Abhijeet Dipke, the founder of the emerging Indian youth movement organization “Cockroach Janta Party,” along with other leaders of the organization arrived at New Delhi airport, the police boarded their flight and took them into custody. Dipke shouted out as the officers boarded the plane: “This is authoritarian rule.”
The police issued a statement on Friday night (October 9), urging people to express their concerns peacefully, stating that the police’s responsibility is to create safe conditions while maintaining the normal functioning of the city.
The cause of this protest stems from the voter list clean-up operation initiated by the Indian Election Commission last year.
The Modi government and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party pointed out that this is the first such clean-up in the country in 20 years, aimed at maintaining the integrity of the voter list.
Critics, however, argue that approximately 130 million names were deleted, suggesting that the ruling party did so for its own benefit.
The Election Commission stated that among the deleted entries were 63 million individuals who had moved, 30 million missing persons, and 28 million deceased individuals. Eligible voters who were mistakenly deleted can re-register.
Protesters are demanding the resignation of Chief Electoral Officer Gyanesh Kumar. Kumar himself has not commented on the matter. Both the Election Commission and the Bharatiya Janata Party have denied any misconduct.
Following a scandal in a university entrance exam this spring, Dipke’s “Cockroach Janta Party” started organizing protests and eventually forced the Education Minister to resign in July.
The leader of the Cockroach Janta Party, Ajinkya Shinde, stated on Saturday that the protest will continue until Kumar resigns.
Elections in several important states of India are set to begin in early 2027.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a statement on its official website on Saturday expressing concerns over the massive detention in India.
In the statement, spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan urged the Indian government to protect the right of the people to assemble peacefully.
The statement read: “We are troubled by reports of the large-scale detention of protesters, protest leaders, members of civil society organizations, lawyers, and journalists by Indian authorities before and after the large demonstrations in Delhi today.”
“We call on the authorities to ensure full respect and realization of the right to peaceful assembly. Restrictions on peaceful protests must comply with strict tests of necessity and proportionality.”
In response, the Indian delegation in Geneva stated that the UN’s concerns were “inappropriate” and amounted to interference in India’s domestic affairs.