India: Delhi braces for Cockroach protest amid strict curbs

India's 'Cockroaches' protest against election chief amid strict curbs

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The 'Cockroaches' are returning to Delhi to demand the resignation of India's election chief, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Police have not authorized the protest, and heavy security arrangements are in place.

The CJP is not the only group calling for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. India's bloc of opposition parties, led by Congress' Rahul Gandhi, has been carrying out a sustained campaign against Kumar in recent days with its own protest marches.

The country has seen dramatic visuals emerged from Delhi's key corridor of political power, which showed leading opposition MPs, including Gandhi, being carried away to detention buses by uniformed police officials as they tried to dig their heels in.

Opposition and critics allege that a mass deletion of tens of millions of voters from India's electoral rolls benefits Modi's Prime Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a charge the party denies.

The police have denied the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) permission to hold the demonstration but the group's leaders are heralding people from all over the country to converge at Jantar Mantar, calling the protest a "fundamental right".

A showdown between police and protesters seems imminent. New Delhi, particularly its central areas, have essentially been turned into a fortress with a heavy security blanket — including thousands of paramilitary personnel — a rare mobile internet blackout, train cancellations and warnings from the police against any protest assembly.

The security arrangements come as memory is still fresh of a clash between youth demonstrators and police during the July Cockroach protest. Police used batons, tear gas and pellet-firing shotguns to disperse the agitating crowd.

Several injuries were reported as the protesters alleged police brutality, while the police said it used force only after the protests stopped being peaceful.

Parts of the Indian capital, Delhi, have been turned into a fortress, with tens of thousands of security forces deployed, as the influential Gen Z-led "cockroach" movement has called for a major protest on Saturday.

The protesters are seeking electoral reforms and the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over allegations of manipulating voters' lists. The Election Commission has denied this and Kumar is yet to comment on the resignation demand.

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