Indian voter list row: Delhi police detain top CJP leaders after flash protest

Indian voter list row: Delhi police detain top CJP leaders after flash protest

India’s youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) said yesterday that key leaders had been detained after entering an iconic protest site in New Delhi blocked by police.

Delhi Police said on Monday that Jantar Mantar in the heart of the capital had been taken off the list of designated official protest sites. The site has been sealed off for several days by yellow metal barricades and guarded by a heavy police presence.

But a video posted online by CJP leader Abhijeet Dipke yesterday showed protesters clambering over the barricades, running into the empty space and waving the national flag -- before police chased and detained them.

“CJP sneaks inside to reclaim Jantar Mantar,” the group said in a post on social media, adding that the 20 people detained included leaders Saurav Das, Ashutosh Ranka and Ajinkya Shinde. “All of them have been detained by Delhi Police,” it added.

“You cannot denotify the resistance,” Dipke said, tagging Modi in his post.

In an attempt to keep up the pressure on the government, Rahul Gandhi hosted a high tea for leaders from the INDIA bloc as well as student bodies.

“Today I have invited the leaders of the INDIA alliance, opposition MPs, student organisations, and people from civil society to my home for tea. In this people’s movement to protect democracy, we are all together… no matter what happens, or which institution plays a role or doesn’t, political resistance will continue, people’s resistance will continue, and it will triumph,” he wrote on X.

Meanwhile, a joint petition filed by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and several opposition leaders against alleged electoral irregularities and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has 14 “defects”, the Supreme Court said, including a shortfall of Rs 220 in court fees.

Other errors cited by the top court are missing authorisations from nine petitioners and an illegible photocopy of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge’s identity card, reports NDTV online.

The youth movement, which has mobilised protests in recent months against issues ranging from government school infrastructure to jobs, is among the biggest political challenges to Modi and his BJP in his 12 years in power.

A weeks-long sit-in by its supporters at Jantar Mantar earlier this year forced the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over exam paper leaks.

The latest protests erupted after the Indian Express newspaper reported last month that Kumar’s two deputies raised several concerns internally about voter list revisions, registration procedures and digital systems.

The change, which started last year, removed over 130 million names – more than the population of Japan – from voter lists, including 28 million who died, 63 million who relocated, and 30 million who could not be traced.

Opposition parties allege the deletions disproportionately affect Muslim voters and other minorities, who are unlikely to support the Hindu nationalist ruling party — allegations the polls panel and BJP reject.