Police Detain Protest Leaders During Delhi Rally Against Voter-List Revision

Dragon Media Newsroom

Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, student leader Neha Bora and supporters during protests against a voter-list revision in New Delhi on Friday. Hundreds gathered in the Connaught Place area carrying national flags and demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

The youth-led Cockroach Janta Party, opposition groups and student organizations have held near-daily demonstrations this month, alleging that the revision benefits Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party. The Election Commission has denied favoring any party and said voters whose names were removed by mistake can re-register.

More than 130 million names were removed during the revision, Reuters reported. The Election Commission said those removed included 28 million people who had died, 63 million who had moved elsewhere and 30 million who could not be traced. The Commission and the ruling party have rejected opposition claims that minorities were disproportionately affected. Police had earlier this week jailed two party leaders for five days over a protest at a prohibited site. About 500 protesters reached different locations around Connaught Place on Friday, and police detained some of them.