CJP leaders released after Delhi protest crackdown

The founder of India's youth-led Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) Abhijeet Dipke and two other leaders were released on Sunday, a day after police detained them ahead of a planned protest demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

The leaders, including Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das, were released after being produced before an executive magistrate at Delhi Cantt Police Station, their lawyer said.

CJP national spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka announced soon after his release that the group would hold a press conference at 2pm today (Sunday).

Ratna Singh, the party's head of legal affairs, said the leaders had been released on the condition that they maintain public order. “No breach of peace for one year,” she wrote on X.

The detentions came as authorities moved to stop a major demonstration in New Delhi on Saturday, following weeks of protests over allegations of irregularities in a nationwide revision of voter lists.

Thousands detained in Delhi

Police mounted a major security operation across the capital on Saturday to prevent protesters from gathering at Jantar Mantar, a designated protest site. The CJP said thousands of people were detained before the demonstration could take place.

The party's leaders were detained after arriving in Delhi from Mumbai. They were reportedly stopped before they could leave the aircraft.

Delhi Police said it had registered more than 20 first information reports (FIRs) over attempts to hold a protest on October 10. The cases involve alleged disturbances to public order, obstruction of government work and assaults on police personnel. Police said four people had been detained in connection with the cases.

The crackdown also affected prominent opposition figures, including Aam Aadmi Party national convenor Arvind Kejriwal, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Pinarayi Vijayan and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, according to media reports.

The demonstration was organised to demand Kumar's resignation over the revision of electoral rolls.

Voter list revision sparks dispute

Media reports said more than 133 million names had been removed from electoral lists during the revision. Election authorities say the exercise is intended to remove duplicate, deceased and fraudulent entries.

However, critics argue that the process has unfairly affected minority communities, particularly Muslims, and could benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Election Commission of India has rejected allegations of wrongdoing.

Saturday's detentions drew criticism from opposition leaders, who accused the government of suppressing dissent.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called in Geneva for the immediate and unconditional release of people it described as having been “arbitrarily detained” in New Delhi.

Opposition vows to continue protests

Despite the police action, the CJP and opposition leaders have said they will continue their campaign against the voter-list revision.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said his party and young people across India would return to the streets on Monday.

“The more Modi and his government crack down, the more the anger of Gen Z and students will grow,” Gandhi said.

The dispute over the voter lists has become a wider political confrontation, with opposition parties questioning the fairness of the revision and election authorities defending it as an effort to improve the accuracy of electoral records.

- With inputs from agencies