India deploys police, restricts transport ahead of major protest

India deployed thousands of police in its capital and restricted transportation in and around Delhi ahead of mass demonstrations on Saturday demanding the resignation of the country's election chief over alleged voter-roll irregularities.

The protests, called by the youth-led Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), are the culmination of weeks of opposition mobilisation following allegations of misconduct during a nationwide voter-roll revision.

Demonstrations erupted across the country after a newspaper investigation last month alleged misconduct by the Election Commission of India (ECI).

The ECI has rejected allegations of impropriety in the "special intensive revision", saying it was intended to remove duplicate and ineligible voters.

Opposition parties and critics say the exercise could disenfranchise voters to the benefit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Tens of thousands of police officers and paramilitary personnel have been deployed across the capital, with multiple layers of yellow metal barricades blocking roads leading to Jantar Mantar, the usual government-designated protest site.

Police have not authorised rallies at the site this weekend.

The protests, called by the CJP, are widely seen as a reprise of its mass mobilisation in July, which led to the education minister stepping down over an examination scandal.

This time, they are demanding ECI chief Gyanesh Kumar resign.

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India to deploy thousands of security forces in Delhi for protest over poll chief

'Cannot detain the movement'

The allegations are a fresh challenge for 76-year-old Modi during his third term in office.

Authorities have ordered the closure of dozens of metro stations, and cancelled several trains coming to New Delhi.

However, the Supreme Court on Friday said some trains must still run and that there should be no blanket closure of metro stations.

"The dictator would rather shut down the entire national capital and inconvenience millions of citizens than allow a peaceful protest at a designated protest site," CJP chief Abhijeet Dipke said on X.

"Imagine how many lives would be affected because of this shutdown by Modi."

The CJP, which emerged online as a satirical political movement in May, has accused authorities of intimidating its supporters ahead of the demonstration.

The party has said that "at least 10,000 people", including protesters travelling to Delhi by train, have been detained across the country.

Some people detained in the central state of Madhya Pradesh were taken to hotels, The Hindu newspaper reported.

Police have not responded to the party's broader allegations of mass detentions.

"You can detain the people -- you cannot detain the movement," said Neha Bora, who has emerged as a leading face of the current protest.

The voter list overhaul, which began in 2025, has led to more than 133 million names being excluded from draft rolls.

The exclusions include duplicate entries and people found to have died.

The poll body said the exercise identifies fraudulently registered voters and aims to prevent "foreign illegal immigrants" from casting ballots.

Critics say the drive has disproportionately affected marginalised and minority communities.

Members of Modi's Hindu nationalist BJP have long alleged that large numbers of undocumented Muslim migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh have fraudulently entered India's electoral rolls.