Indian police detain ‘cockroach’ movement leader ahead of New Delhi protest
Por Reuters — South China Morning Post – News feed
Advertisement India Asia South Asia Indian police detain ‘cockroach’ movement leader ahead of New Delhi protest
Authorities have moved against Abhijeet Dipke, who is calling for the resignation of the election commissioner over voter roll changes
1 -MIN READ 1 -MIN Listen
Reuters Published: 8:06pm, 16 Oct 2026 Police detained India ’s ‘cockroach’ movement founder Abhijeet Dipke on Friday, live images from his group showed, ahead of a protest called by him in capital New Delhi’s central business district, the latest rally to demand the resignation of India’s election chief . The youth-led ‘Cockroach Janta Party’ (CJP), opposition groups and student organisations have held almost daily protests this month demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation over a revision of voter lists that critics say favours Prime Minister Narendra Modi ’s Bharatiya Janata Party .
More than 130 million voters were deleted during the revision, but the Election Commission has denied favouring any party and said wrongly deleted voters can re-enrol. The BJP has accused rivals of trying to undermine democracy by wrongly questioning legitimate electoral processes.
Dipke called Friday’s protest in support of two CJP leaders detained and sent to jail this week for five days for demonstrating at a protest site in violation of a ban. Select Voice Select Speed 0.8x 0.9x 1.0x 1.1x 1.2x 1.5x 1.75x 00:00 00:00 1x AI-generated voice