UPSC KEY: India’s first LNG-powered train, Election Commission, and GST regime

Protests erupted across major Indian cities over the weekend, with thousands of young demonstrators and opposition figures demanding the resignation of the country's election chief following controversial changes to the voter rolls. In Mumbai, opposition leaders Raj Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray led demonstrations, denouncing the revisions as benefiting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

In New Delhi, protesters gathered in the evening, some breaching police barriers to surround vehicles carrying detained demonstrators. Activist Aahna Singh, a political science student, recounted being dragged by police by her hair, alleging police brutality. Police in the capital have been preventing protest assemblies over the past two days, detaining dozens and registering cases against some for violating orders against mass gatherings.

Despite some detainees being released, the protests are expected to persist, with an alliance of opposition parties planning a march to the Election Commission office on Monday and the Gen Z Cockroach Janta Party organizing a major rally in Delhi on October 10. The opposition contends that the nationwide voter-roll revision, launched last year, has disenfranchised millions by removing eligible voters, a charge the Election Commission denies, asserting the exercise aims to maintain electoral integrity by eliminating duplicate, deceased, or ineligible entries.