Thousands of protesters took to the streets in India for a third consecutive day on Sunday, demanding the resignation of Election Commission of India (ECI) chief Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in voter-list revisions.
Protests took place in Mumbai and New Delhi, with opposition leaders Raj Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray leading a large rally in Mumbai while police detained some protesters in the capital.
The demonstrations began on Friday after reports that voter-roll revisions overseen by Kumar had removed millions of names from electoral lists. Protesters claim that the move could benefit Prime Minister Narendra (PM) Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
ECI and BJP have rejected the allegations. The election body said that the revision aims to remove duplicate, deceased and ineligible voters while ensuring the accuracy of electoral rolls. It also directed officials on Friday to add eligible voters who had been left out of the lists.
In Mumbai, thousands of people marched while carrying Indian flags and calling for Kumar to resign.
“I just want to tell the ruling party this much. We are angry about how you are wielding that power. It’s the people of this country who should decide who sits in power and who sits in opposition, not the election commission,” Raj Thackeray told protesters.
In New Delhi, people began gathering at the protest site on Sunday evening. Police have detained dozens of protesters over the past three days and taken some away in buses. Some detainees were later released while police registered cases against some protesters for allegedly violating orders banning mass gatherings in central New Delhi.
The Gen Z-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has announced a major rally in New Delhi for October 10.
“Mumbai is out on the streets again for free and fair elections,” CJP chief Abhijeet Dipke said in a social media post on Sunday.
“Solidarity with all the protesters,” he added. “All Indians need to come together. It’s now or never!”
Meanwhile, questions were raised after some Delhi Police personnel deployed at Jantar Mantar during the protests were seen without name tags. New Delhi district Deputy Commissioner of Police Sachin Sharma said that police had not instructed officers to remove their name tags.
“There are no instructions from the police side to avoid wearing name tags. Some name tags may have broken during crowd-control duties at the protest, and personnel are required to wear their name tags,” Sharma told the Indian news outlet.
Sharma added that several officers were identified through their name tags and later faced social media trolling following the CJP’s “Chalo Sansad” march in July, when violence broke out.
Police have also opened an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment against officers during Saturday’s protests in New Delhi.
Delhi Police said that three female journalists had accused police officers of sexual harassment after officers detained scores of protesters near Jantar Mantar.
“Allegations of sexual harassment were made by three female journalists against police officers,” police said in a statement, adding that they would conduct a “fair and impartial enquiry”.
One of the complainants said that in a video shared on social media that a police officer pushed her and touched her “inappropriately”.
Kumar has not responded to calls for his resignation or commented on the protests.
