Delhi police detain hundreds at protests over India’s voter rolls

• Protesters in Delhi were stopped from reaching Jantar Mantar and taken away on police buses.
• Reports put the number detained at between about 550 and 1,100; a final count was not available.
• Demonstrators in Mumbai also protested against the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
• More than 133 million fewer names appeared in draft rolls nationwide, a figure that does not show how many eligible voters were wrongly excluded.

Police sealed approaches to Jantar Mantar and Parliament Street on Friday, then stopped people arriving along Ashoka Road, Janpath and Tolstoy Road. The Indian Express reported that protesters were put on buses bound for police stations. Among those detained were Aam Aadmi Party leaders Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh and student activist Neha Bora. The protest was called over the voter-list revision and to demand Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation. ¹

Accounts of the detention total differed. The Indian Express reported that police gave a figure of about 550, while other reports cited more than 700 and as many as 1,100. The Indian Express said police reported releasing all protesters held by about 6pm; India Today later reported that some of those detained had been released. Neither gave a reconciled final count or the total released. ¹²

In Mumbai, the Cockroach Janata Party held a separate demonstration calling for Kumar to resign. The protests are part of a growing challenge to the Election Commission of India’s Special Intensive Revision, or SIR, which is intended to verify voter lists. The Commission says the exercise aims to remove duplicate and ineligible entries; critics say the process risks excluding eligible voters. The Commission and government deny wrongdoing. ³

The scale of the change is striking, but its meaning needs care. By September 1, draft rolls in 30 states and Union Territories had 133.7 million fewer names than the pre-revision rolls—a 14.1% reduction, according to the Indian Express. The reported categories included people recorded as absent, shifted, deceased or registered in more than one place. That total is not a count of eligible voters proven to have lost their voting rights. ⁴

Delhi’s claims and objections process remains open: the Election Commission extended the deadline to October 30 and said people left off the rolls could apply for inclusion. ⁵

Footnotes

1. The Indian Express, “Jantar Mantar sealed, protesters detained: How Delhi protest against Election Commission played out”. ↩ ↩²

2. India Today, “Opposition defies curbs, protests against Gyanesh Kumar in Delhi; 1,100 detained”. ↩

3. Associated Press, “CJP, activists demand India’s election chief Gyanesh Kumar resign over SIR”. ↩

4. The Indian Express, “SIR draft rolls see over 13 crore deletions so far, Delhi leads with 33% left out”. ↩

5. Election Commission of India, decision extending Delhi’s claims-and-objections deadline. ↩