India’s ‘cockroach’ movement says thousands detained in Delhi protest

Indian authorities detained the leader of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and thousands of demonstrators participating in a protest against the country's election commissioner in New Delhi. The protest, a culmination of weeks of opposition mobilization, erupted over allegations of misconduct during a nationwide voter roll revision by the Election Commission of India (ECI).

CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke and two other leaders were denied access to their lawyers and cut off from contact upon arrival in the capital, being taken to an undisclosed location.

The CJP, which began as a satirical online movement in May, said over 15,000 protesters were detained in New Delhi while attempting to march to the main protest site at Jantar Mantar, despite a heavy security presence. Media outlets, including Scroll and Newslaundry, reported their journalists were also briefly detained.

Opposition parties and critics demand the resignation of ECI chief Gyanesh Kumar, alleging the voter roll revision could disenfranchise millions, potentially benefiting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The ECI rejects claims of impropriety, stating the revision aims to remove duplicate and ineligible voters, including foreign illegal immigrants.

This protest marks a resurgence of the CJP's mass mobilization in July, which led to the education minister's resignation over an examination scandal. This time, demonstrators are demanding Kumar's resignation and an end to the voter revision exercise, which has excluded over 133 million names from draft rolls, according to Indian media citing ECI data.

Political analysts say the protest occurs as Modi appears to be at his weakest politically and personally, with next year's elections in India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh. Opposition parties have long accused the country of stripping legitimate voters from lists, and the voter list overhaul, which began in 2025, has excluded more than 133 million names.