India's youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) launched a new wave of protests on Friday, demanding the resignation of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over a revision of the electoral register that has removed millions of names. Other protest movements joined the rallies, and in the capital, Delhi, the demonstrations led to scuffles and arrests.
In Mumbai, hundreds of people gathered under heavy police presence after authorities refused permission to use the city's Shivaji Park. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke said the protest would open a nationwide campaign, with further events planned in Delhi, Goa, Kolkata and Bengaluru. Comparing his movement to Mahatma Gandhi's struggle against British rule, he asked: "Did the British ever permit him to agitate?" In Delhi, police deployed in force around Jantar Mantar, a traditional protest site in the city centre, closed a dozen metro stations and imposed an internet shutdown. At least 700 people, including civil society leaders and opposition politicians, were detained, according to The Guardian's account. Detainees accused officers from bus windows of denying them their democratic rights. Friday was also a public holiday marking Gandhi's birthday.
At the centre of the dispute is the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), a process to update and "purify" the electoral rolls. RFI reports that about 130 million citizens have been struck off the lists, and large numbers are now challenging their removal. In September, the Indian Express newspaper reported irregularities and internal concerns about the exercise. The Election Commission, long regarded as one of India's most respected institutions, denies any wrongdoing. Opposition politicians and civil society groups allege the process is part of a wider effort to favour the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Hindu nationalist party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In an apparent attempt to ease tensions, officials were told to speed up the registration of newly eligible voters and of people who say they were wrongly omitted.
The CJP began as online satire but became a significant challenge to the government. After weeks of protests in Delhi, the education minister resigned in July, and the group then said it would stay active as a pressure group on education and democracy. Many of Friday's participants were young. "Voting is the most basic right of any citizen," said Deesha, a 22-year-old student activist, while 18-year-old Janvi Upadhyay said Kumar was "definitely next" after the education minister. Older observers also voiced support: a 67-year-old retiree named Ravi said recent BJP election wins were "nothing but manipulation".
The mobilisation looks set to continue. Student unions called for more demonstrations on Saturday, and Neha Bora, president of the left-wing All India Students' Association, said: "This is only the beginning." The CJP plans a large rally in Delhi on 10 October, and opposition parties say they will launch their own nationwide movement, with all opposition lawmakers due to march to the Election Commission's Delhi office next week.
The dispute matters because it questions public trust in the electoral process of the world's most populous democracy, and it pits an unconventional youth movement, backed by established opposition parties, against the authorities.