Symbolic imageDelhi locked down and thousands detained to stop voter-roll march
Police sealed central Delhi on Saturday and detained protesters, including 'Cockroach' founder Abhijeet Dipke, to stop a youth-led march against the election chief.
Police detained Dipke and other leaders of the Cockroach Janata Party when their flight from Mumbai landed in Delhi on Saturday, 10 October, the group said. Dipke called the crackdown a sign of "a leader terrified of his own people", according to the Guardian. Delhi police had refused permission, saying the application came too late. Detention figures differ: Reuters reports hundreds, FAZ cites press reports of 3,000 in Delhi, the Guardian says tens of thousands nationwide.
Capital under lockdown
The Guardian counts more than 25,000 police and security personnel. All trains into Delhi's two main stations were cancelled for 10 hours, almost 50 metro stations closed, and mobile internet was suspended in the central business district. Jantar Mantar, the planned rally site, was sealed, though small protests broke out elsewhere, Koha reports.
Dispute over the rolls
The revision removed 130 million names. Critics, including opposition parties, say it favours Modi's BJP and demand that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resign. The Election Commission denies manipulation, Koha reports, and FAZ notes that opposition leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were briefly detained at earlier rallies.