India detains protesters, locks down Delhi ahead of rally against election chief

In the Indian capital of New Delhi, authorities detained numerous protesters on Saturday as part of a lockdown aimed at preventing a youth-led demonstration against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The protest, organized by the "Cockroach" youth movement, called for the chief to resign over a revised voter list perceived as favorable to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party. Images showed police chasing and apprehending a few dozen young protesters before transporting them to vehicles.

Over 200 protesters were detained in the central business district, with Dhruv Rathee, a prominent YouTuber and protest supporter, among those taken into custody. Travel and telecommunications services were suspended, with metro stations and markets closed, and mobile internet access restricted. Police boarded buses, conducted searches, and checked vehicles at entry points to the city, while anti-riot vehicles with tear gas were deployed along key routes.

Rahul Gandhi, an Indian opposition lawmaker, joined the protest on Saturday, questioning the prime minister's fear of the youth and the population. He criticized the extensive measures taken to curb the demonstration, describing them as a display of fear. The protest aimed to gather at Jantar Mantar, a designated protest site in New Delhi, at 10 a.m. The demonstration was promoted as the largest of a series of protests launched last week following reports that Kumar's deputies questioned and disagreed with him regarding the voter list revisions that excluded approximately 130 million voters.

Opposition parties have accused the government of manipulating the voter lists to favor the ruling party, while the Election Commission and the BJP have denied these allegations. Despite the denial, the protests have posed a new challenge to Modi, coming amid upcoming state elections and just months before crucial national elections.