Thousands of police and paramilitary personnel were deployed across the capital on Saturday to prevent a rally organised by the satirical Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and other youth groups. Mobile internet services were suspended in the central business district, while dozens of metro stations and markets were closed, Al Jazeera reported.
The Hindu newspaper, citing police sources, reported that nearly 2,500 people were detained across New Delhi, while Reuters, citing an official from the Ministry of Home Affairs, put the figure at approximately 2,000. Around 600 people were also arrested in Mumbai.
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The demonstrators called for Kumar to resign over the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists, which opposition parties allege disproportionately benefits Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Opposition groups claim the revisions have affected recent state elections won by the BJP and raised concerns about the fairness of future polls. The Election Commission and the BJP have denied allegations of wrongdoing.
The CJP had planned to gather thousands of demonstrators at Jantar Mantar, a designated protest site in central New Delhi. However, security forces sealed off the area before the rally could begin.
Police established checkpoints on major roads and at entry points across the city, searched vehicles and buses, and deployed barricades and anti-riot vehicles equipped with tear-gas launchers.
Authorities also detained several prominent opposition figures and activists, including CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke and associates Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, who arrived in New Delhi from Mumbai aboard an Air India flight.
Other people detained included YouTuber and Modi critic Dhruv Rathee, All India Students’ Association national president Neha Bora, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya and Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan.
Several opposition lawmakers and former chief ministers were also detained, television channels reported. Despite the arrests, smaller demonstrations took place elsewhere in the capital.
The protests intensified after the Indian Express reported that two election commissioners had questioned Kumar’s revisions, which reportedly removed around 130 million names from voter lists.
The BJP has defended its electoral record, attributing its success to Modi’s popularity and India’s economic growth. Party spokesperson Sambit Patra dismissed the demonstration as a failure and described its participants as “anarchic elements”.
Opposition Congress party president Mallikarjun Kharge criticised the government over the detentions, accusing it of undermining democratic freedoms.
The United Nations Human Rights Office expressed concern over the mass detentions and urged Indian authorities to respect the right to peaceful assembly and engage in meaningful dialogue with protesters.
Amnesty International also criticised the detentions, while the Committee to Protect Journalists called on police to respect journalists covering the demonstrations. Several reporters were briefly detained, including a Reuters journalist who was later released.
India’s mission to the UN in Geneva rejected the international criticism as misplaced interference in the country’s internal affairs. It said the right to peaceful assembly was guaranteed by the Constitution, subject to reasonable restrictions in the interest of public order.
The unrest comes ahead of a series of important state elections scheduled to begin in early 2027, raising the political stakes surrounding the dispute over voter registration.
The BJP maintains that its electoral victories reflect public support for the government, while opposition parties continue to question the fairness of the voter list revision process.
