India’s Cockroach movement says members detained as protests continue

India’s opposition and student-led CJP movement demand election chief’s resignation, plan mass demonstration on Saturday.

India’s Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) says that authorities have detained many of its members as thousands of the group’s supporters and members of several student groups continue to protest, demanding the election chief’s resignation.

Thursday’s demonstrations come ahead of CJP-led antigovernment protests planned for Saturday, with thousands expected to march to Jantar Mantar, the designated protest site in the capital, New Delhi.

Ashutosh Ranka, a spokesperson for the movement, said in a post on X on Thursday that “at least 10,000” people from CJP demonstrations, student organisations, affiliated grassroots groups and political parties had been detained across the country.

Among those arrested is CJP national spokesman Deepak Baliyan, who was taken into police custody on Thursday, according to the group’s statements.

Al Jazeera could not immediately verify the claims, but videos posted on X showed activists being taken away in vans.

Opposition parties and students affiliated with the CJP movement have been demanding the resignation of the chief election commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, over a controversial revision of voter lists.

They accuse the poll body he heads of benefitting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

On Thursday, CJP said that among those detained was ‌a group of students from the city of Pune who were headed for New Delhi to participate in planned protests at the iconic Jantar Mantar observatory. CJP said they were taken away in a bus to an unknown location.

“Why not just declare EMERGENCY?” CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke said in a response to a post with a video of activists being detained.

‘Every vote matters’

India’s Election Commission has so far removed more than 130 million names from the voter lists, with millions appealing the removals. About 969 million people were eligible to vote in the 2024 election.

Protesters allege the changes disproportionately removed voters who support opposition parties while preserving or adding voters more likely to back Modi’s party.

The commission and government deny the allegations. They say the revision has no political motive but is aimed at removing duplicate and ineligible entries while ensuring eligible voters remain registered.

Earlier on Thursday, thousands of supporters of the CJP youth movement protested in the tech hub of Bengaluru.

Many of the protesters held posters that said, “Every name counts, Every vote matters” and “Stop the Murder of ⁠Democracy”.

Khushi Shrivastava, a 22-year-old architecture student at the protest, told the Reuters news agency: “I think voting right is the most basic point of democracy … People ⁠who actually want to vote, who actually care about the future of India, they are just being [denied] voting rights.”

On Wednesday, Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi was briefly detained for the third time in two days, as his Congress ‌Party accused police of using “brute force”.

Police said the allegations were being used to “defame” them. BJP’s spokesperson ‌Gaurav ‌Bhatia said the allegations were “being levelled by an irresponsible, anarchist opposition”.