Indian police have carried out a mass round-up in Delhi over a protest against the country’s Election Commission. In the operation, which ran through the day from Saturday morning, many opposition leaders and protesters were detained, among them former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, former Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Tripura’s Manik Sarkar. According to various media reports, at least 3,000 protesters have been detained.
The main demand of the protest, organised by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), was the resignation of India’s chief election commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar. The protesters allege that large numbers of voters were removed in the name of revising the rolls and that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) benefited. The Election Commission and the BJP deny any irregularity.
CJP leaders detained on their aircraft
The party says its founder, Abhijit Dipke, and its leaders Ashutosh Ranka and Sourav Das were detained on their aircraft after arriving in Delhi from Mumbai in the morning.
In a video released from the aircraft, Dipke is heard saying they had come to take part in a peaceful protest, yet were being detained like criminals.
Mamata and Kejriwal detained
Police detained Arvind Kejriwal, former Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader, in the afternoon. The report says he was detained on his way to Jantar Mantar.
Mamata Banerjee, former chief minister of West Bengal, was detained the same day. She was protesting at a sit-in in Delhi’s South Avenue area. Several Trinamool Congress leaders were detained with her, among them Rajya Sabha members Derek O’Brien and Dola Sen.
Left leaders also detained
Several Left leaders, including former Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, were detained on their way to join the protest. The report names CPI(M) general secretary MA Baby, Brinda Karat, MV Govindan and PK Sreemathy among them.
CPI(M) MP John Brittas alleged that police drove several of them round various parts of Delhi for a long time and then took them to Chhatrasal Stadium. After being kept there for a while they were moved again, he said, without being told where.
March from a gurdwara, allegation of baton charge
Protesters say about 600 people had gathered in the area of a gurdwara and that about 300 of them were detained. The figure could not be independently confirmed.
Ajay Jingade, a software engineer from Hyderabad, alleged that protesters had been trying since morning to go towards Jantar Mantar and were stopped by a large number of police, who later baton-charged them and took many away in buses.
Allegations about journalists and lawyers
The CJP has also alleged that the social media accounts of several of its members have been shut down. No detailed comment from the authorities was available.
Dispute over the voter rolls
Political tension had been rising for several days over the revision of India’s voter rolls. Opposition parties allege that large numbers of voters have been dropped in the process, which could affect election results.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report