Delhi police detain nearly 500 as protests over election chief continue
Protests demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and suspension of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls entered a third day in New Delhi and Mumbai. Delhi Police detained nearly 500 people after stopping a march, while opposition leaders led a separate demonstration in Mumbai attended by about 6,000 people.
Protests demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the suspension of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls continued in New Delhi and Mumbai on Sunday, the third day of demonstrations. In New Delhi, protesters seeking to reach Jantar Mantar encountered heavy police barricades on Ashoka Road. Delhi Police stopped the march and detained nearly 500 people, who were transported from central Delhi in between 10 and 15 buses.
A woman journalist who had alleged sexual harassment and manhandling by a police officer while covering the previous day’s protest was among those detained, according to the report. The All India Students’ Association also said its national president, Neha Bora, was taken from Ashoka Road by personnel in a private car. The group said the officers were not wearing name tags.
Bora was later released from Narela Industrial Area police station. After her release, she said protesters had the right to question those in power and demonstrate at a designated protest site. Videos circulated on social media showed confrontations between protesters and police, including one that purportedly showed protesters damaging a bus window and leaving the vehicle.
The protests began on October 2, with participation from opposition politicians, civil society activists, students and youth organisations. Screenwriter and director Saeed Akhtar Mirza, who is 83, also joined the New Delhi demonstration. In Mumbai, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray led a march from Metro Cinema to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation headquarters.
Congress and Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar leaders also took part. Organisers and the report put attendance at about 6,000. Uddhav Thackeray accused the Election Commission and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of undermining voting rights, while Raj Thackeray demanded the CEC’s removal and called for electronic voting machines to be replaced with ballot papers.
The supplied material records these as political claims and does not include a response from the Election Commission or the ruling party.
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