India's 'cockroach' movement founder released a day after detention

NEW DELHI: Abhijeet Dipke, founder of India's "cockroach" youth movement, was released from detention on Saturday after a day of arrest. He was taken into custody for attempting to lead another protest rally in New Delhi, demanding the resignation of the country's election chief. Dipke's youth-led group, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), gained attention this year when a weeks-long sit-in led to the resignation of India's education minister.

Ratna Singh, CJP's legal affairs head, stated that Dipke was released following his agreement to certain conditions. The youth-led group, along with opposition parties and student organizations, has been holding near-daily protests this month, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Over 130 million voters were deleted during a voter list revision, which they claim favors Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The Election Commission denies favoritism towards any party and claims wrongly deleted voters can re-enroll. The BJP accuses rivals of attempting to undermine democracy by questioning the electoral process. Student activist Neha Bora, another prominent figure in the protests, was also detained on Friday as she attempted to join thousands of supporters in central Delhi.

She was released on Saturday and called for the impeachment of Gyanesh Kumar and the halt of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) to ensure citizens' voting rights.