Indian opposition protest police action against lawmakers, push for poll chief's resignation

BENGALURU: Indian opposition groups demonstrated for a third day on Thursday, protesting police action against Congress party leaders and demanding the resignation of the chief election commissioner over a controversial revision of voter lists.

Opposition parties, their student units, and the “Cockroach” youth movement have been holding almost daily demonstrations seeking Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation. They have accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of using a revision of voter lists to fix them in its favour, in collusion with its appointees, including Kumar.

Kumar has not commented but the Election Commission and the BJP have denied the allegations.

The protests present a new political challenge to Modi midway into his third term, just months after similar demonstrations led by the self-named Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) forced the resignation of his education minister over exam paper leaks.

Rahul Gandhi, Indian opposition lawmakers detained over election chief protest for second day

Visuals from news agency ANI showed dozens of Congress supporters staging a protest march on Thursday in the southern state of Telangana, while the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal organised a similar demonstration in the eastern state of Bihar.

Hundreds of supporters of the CJP youth movement also protested in tech hub Bengaluru, many of them holding posters that said, “Every name counts, Every vote matters” and “Stop the Murder of Democracy”.

“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,” Khushi Shrivastava, a 22-year-old architecture student who attended the Bengaluru protest, told Reuters.

On Wednesday, Congress accused police of using “brute force” to briefly detain party leader Rahul Gandhi, his sister Priyanka Vadra, and other lawmakers as they tried to reach the Jantar Mantar protest site in New Delhi.

India detains opposition lawmakers protesting against election chief

Delhi Police said the allegations were being used to “defame” the force.

“We are on the ground and, as officers, we also ensure that every kind of legal duty is followed and no illegal, unnecessary actions take place,” senior police officer Shrishti Pandey told ANI.

BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said the allegations were “being levelled by an irresponsible, anarchist opposition”. The claims had “no base, not an iota of evidence”, he told reporters at a media briefing on Thursday.