Anger is mounting as Delhi witnesses a massive crackdown on the Gen Z-led Cockroach Janata Party’s (CJP) protest demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation over alleged voter-list irregularities and opposing the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were detained at Delhi Airport, while TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal, YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, CJP legal team head Ratna Singh and more than 1,000 other protesters were detained, according to media reports.
The controversy has taken a deeply emotional turn after Delhi Police informed Dipke that his grandmother had passed away. Police sources said he could choose whether to remain in detention or return home to attend her last rites.
With around 35,000 police personnel deployed, access to 45 metro stations restricted, hundreds of trains cancelled and internet services suspended in parts of central Delhi, the protest has triggered questions over the handling of dissent and the space available for young people to raise electoral concerns.
The protesters are demanding electoral reforms and accountability, while the Election Commission has denied allegations of voter-list manipulation.
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