Around 550 protesters were detained in and around Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on Friday during a demonstration against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and alleged irregularities in the special intensive revision of electoral rolls, while authorities restricted access to the protest site and suspended entry and exit at 12 central Delhi metro stations.
Delhi Police said the detentions were made because the protest did not have permission and prohibitory orders were in force in the area. The police denied manhandling protesters. Those detained were released later in the day, while police said first information reports were being registered for alleged violations of the orders.
The protest had been announced by opposition parties and student groups over the Election Commission’s handling of the electoral-roll revision. Senior opposition functionaries, including CPM leaders Brinda Karat and MA Baby, AAP leader Atishi and JD(U) leader Manoj Jha, were among those detained, according to the report.
Police deployed barricades and patrolled footpaths leading to Jantar Mantar before protesters began gathering. Notices installed in the area said Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita had been enforced and that illegal gatherings were prohibited. Buses entered the barricaded area from Tolstoy Marg and Janpath at regular intervals to take detainees away.
Authorities also set up internet jammers in the area, and entry and exit at 12 metro stations in central Delhi were suspended to prevent protesters from assembling near Jantar Mantar. Some students walked several kilometres from more distant stations and regrouped near the protest site despite the restrictions.
The protest centred on demands for the resignation of Kumar and objections to the electoral-roll revision. The report said more than 47 lakh names had been deleted from Delhi’s rolls during the exercise, while another 33 lakh people received notices asking them to explain what the Election Commission described as logical discrepancies in their records. The Election Commission has said people whose names are missing from the draft rolls can register as new voters after submitting the required documents.
At Jantar Mantar, a confrontation developed after All India Students’ Association national president Neha Bora arrived around noon. Deepanita, a PhD student who said she was detained alongside Bora, alleged that protesters blocked a police bus and secured Bora’s release after she was taken away. The account was reported by the Times of India and was not independently confirmed in the supplied report.
A smaller group of students remained near Tolstoy Marg later in the afternoon, even after many others had been detained. In a video message released in the evening, Bora said the protest would continue and called on people to gather at Jantar Mantar at 1pm on Saturday.
