India deploys thousands of police ahead of election reform protest — SkimNews
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Delhi Police deployed 20,000+ officers and paramilitary personnel across New Delhi on Oct 9, erected barricades around Jantar Mantar, ordered the Delhi Metro to close entry/exit gates at 57 stations from 9pm Oct 9, and cancelled incoming trains at two key stations on Oct 10 — one day before planned protests demanding ECI chief Gyanesh Kumar step down.
- Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders were briefly detained during rallies this week and are expected to meet President Droupadi Murmu on Oct 9 to complain about the ECI's "special intensive revision" of electoral rolls, which critics allege could disenfranchise voters to benefit PM Modi's BJP.
- The Election Commission of India says the voter-roll revision is intended to remove duplicate and ineligible voters and has rejected allegations of wrongdoing.
- The youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) movement, which emerged online in May as a satirical political outfit, called for a "mass mobilisation" march to Jantar Mantar on Oct 10; CJP chief Abhijeet Dipke told Modi: "this intimidation is not going to work… The youth of this country are no longer scared of you."
- CJP activist Saurav Das accused police of "working like the BJP's private militia" amid claims supporters were being detained ahead of the demonstration, and the movement noted it previously led Jantar Mantar protests that succeeded in ousting the then education minister.
Why it matters: The Oct 10 mobilization — opposition leaders heading to the President, a satirical youth movement with a track record of ousting a minister, and 20,000+ police closing 57 metro stations and barricading Jantar Mantar — escalates the ECI credibility fight from street rallies to a direct institutional challenge ahead of upcoming elections. The ECI has rejected the allegations.
Ask SkimNews
