Over the weekend, thousands of protesters were detained by police in Delhi, including the founder and leaders of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP).
Protesters are objecting to the Indian electoral commission’s removal of 130 million people from the electoral roll, which they say has included eligible voters.
A representative from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said the demonstrators were attempting to spread anarchy.
Here’s the latest.
Background
The Cockroach Janta Party was created in May by 30-year-old Abhijeet Dipke, after Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said India’s unemployed youth were like “cockroaches”.
Dipke then created the satirical Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), attracting 2 million membership sign-ups in its first week.
In July, the CJP led protests that caused India’s Education Minister to resign.
New protests
The Electoral Commission of India (ECI) undertakes reviews of its electoral roll, called a Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
It is designed to add new voters and verify if existing voters are still eligible.
An investigation by newspaper The Indian Express found that two of three Election Commissioners formally objected to the process on 14 occasions, with one writing ECI’s action was “unauthorised and illegal.”
Since June 2025, 130 million names have been removed from the electoral roll, according to Amnesty International.
CJP organised protests, including on October 10, against the ECI, alleging that eligible voters have been removed from the roll through the SIR process.
The Party is demanding:
- Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar must resign
- Freeze SIR
- Restore the roll from January 2025
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- Pause upcoming elections
- Order an independent inquiry
- Replace existing ECI appointment laws with an independent selection process
Latest
In the lead-up to the protests, trains to Delhi were suspended and CJP members and students were allegedly detained.
According to local reporting cited by the BBC, up to 7,000 people were later detained at the demonstrations.
Delhi Police arrested Dipke, along with two other CJP leaders, on a flight.
The three men were released after 24 hours, with local media reporting they filed bonds for “maintaining peace and good behaviour” for one year.
Dipke said he hasn’t “signed any bond that says we won’t protest,” adding “we will hit the streets again.”
Govt response
Ravi Shankar Prasad, a leader from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) called the actions of protesters “theatrics”.
“These defeated and frustrated people have been troubling the people of Delhi for the past three to four days and using street protests as a weapon,” he said.
Prasad added that the “dignity of democracy has consistently defeated attempts to spread anarchy.”
UN response
UN Human Rights Spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan said: “We are concerned by reports of mass detentions in India of demonstrators, protest leaders, members of civil society organisations, lawyers and journalists”.
“We call on the authorities to ensure that the right to peaceful assembly is fully respected and fulfilled,” he said.
Al-Kheetan added that “all those arbitrarily detained must be immediately and unconditionally released.”
