NEW DELHI: Indian police detained Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), for a second time on Friday as hundreds of protesters gathered in central New Delhi to demand the resignation of the country’s chief election commissioner.
The demonstrations centre on a revision of voter lists that opposition parties allege favours Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Election Commission has denied political bias, saying voters wrongly removed from the lists can re-enrol.
Dipke’s detention came as the party and student organisations staged protests in support of two CJP leaders who were detained earlier this week and remanded in judicial custody for five days after demonstrating at a restricted protest site.
Student activist Neha Bora, another prominent figure in the demonstrations, was also detained while attempting to reach Connaught Place with supporters.
Senior police officer Sachin Sharma told Reuters that Dipke and Bora had been taken into preventive detention.
“Abhijeet is detained by Delhi Police,” the CJP said in a post on X. “This government is so scared of the youth waving national flag.”
Protests Despite Restrictions
The party and left-wing student organisations had called on supporters to gather at Central Park in Connaught Place, a busy shopping and dining district, to wave and hoist the national flag.
Police had warned Dipke against proceeding with the demonstration earlier on Friday. Security was subsequently tightened, with hundreds of officers in riot gear deployed across central Delhi, while civic authorities closed the park.
Despite the restrictions, nearly 500 protesters gathered in groups at about half a dozen locations around Connaught Place, waving flags and shouting slogans. Some were detained and taken away in police vehicles.
“If waving the tricolour in the country has become a crime, then I am happy to go to jail,” said Saurav Kumar, a data analyst, before his detention.
“The government not giving us the space to protest, not accepting faults in the system, is not a healthy sign for a democracy,” he added.
Smaller demonstrations were also reported in Mumbai and Bengaluru, while student organisations held a protest in Patna, where demonstrators waved organisational flags and pushed against police barricades.
Dispute Over Voter Lists
The protests intensified after the Indian Express reported that two deputies to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had raised concerns internally about voter-list changes, registration procedures and digital systems.
According to figures released by the Election Commission, about 130 million names were removed from voter lists during the revision. These included 28 million people who had died, 63 million who had relocated and 30 million who could not be traced.
Opposition parties allege the removals disproportionately affect Muslims and other minorities, who they say are less likely to support the ruling BJP. The Election Commission and the BJP reject allegations of political bias.
The BJP has accused opposition groups of undermining legitimate electoral processes by questioning the revisions.
BJP Accuses Opposition
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh accused the main opposition Congress party of using the protests in an attempt to seize power.
“Instead of channelling the energy of the youth toward nation-building, they are being used as pawns in the politics of anarchy,” he said at a media briefing on Friday.
The Cockroach Janta Party has emerged as a youth-led protest movement challenging the government on several issues.
Earlier this year, a weeks-long sit-in by its supporters over examination paper leaks preceded the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
The latest demonstrations have placed the election commission’s voter-list revision at the centre of a growing political dispute, with protesters demanding accountability and the authorities defending the process.
