India detains opposition lawmakers protesting against election chief

NEW DELHI: Indian police detained several opposition lawmakers in the capital of New Delhi on Tuesday for trying to breach barricades during a protest march to demand the resignation of the election chief over a controversial revision of voter lists.

The march presents a fresh political challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi midway into his third term, just months after similar protests forced the resignation of his education minister over exam paper leaks.

Parties opposing Modi’s government along with members of the popular ‘cockroach’ youth movement protested against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar after the Indian Express newspaper reported divisions in the poll body last month.

The reported differences over the lists and voter registration procedures stoked concern about the neutrality of the commission, led by a Modi government appointee.

“The election commission is a puppet in the hands of the government,” Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, told reporters as the march began. “We are fighting to save our democracy.”

India’s Cockroach Janata Party, student groups to protest, demand poll chief’s resignation

Marchers carry placards, flags, shout slogans

Lawmakers carried placards, waved the national flag, and shouted slogans against Kumar during the march, roughly 1-km-long, or less than a mile, to the Election Commission headquarters from parliament, through the centre of Delhi.

Some carried placards calling Kumar a traitor and accused the BJP of snatching away the right to vote, while they sat on the road outside the panel’s office, demanding to meet him.

Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, his sister Priyanka and several more stood on police barricades there, waving the national flag and calling for Kumar to resign.

Hundreds of security personnel, some wearing riot gear and carrying batons, tried to stop Gandhi and other lawmakers from entering the election commission.

Police did not immediately comment on the detentions.

Protests intensify in India over demands for election chief to quit

Protests push anarchy, BJP says

“After failing multiple times, Congress leaders have decided to establish anarchy in the country and attack institutions,” BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra told reporters before Tuesday’s protest.

TV channels said the Gandhi siblings were among those briefly detained before being released.

The duo sought entry through the grounds of the state radio office next door, where they sat in protest under a tree after the route was blocked, the channels said.

Congress and other parties say the revised voter lists benefit Modi and his party. Kumar has not commented on the issue, but the commission and Modi’s BJP denied the accusations.

Tuesday’s event is the latest of a series of almost daily demonstrations by student organisations, political parties and the ‘cockroach’ movement, which began last week.

India’s Supreme Court agreed on Monday to hear requests for its intervention in the accusations against the poll body’s voter drive, and the conduct of its chief.

If “there are decisions against the law … We will take care of it,” the court said at the hearing, after the petitioners accused the poll body of bias.