An Indian court ordered that two leaders of the youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) be detained in jail for five days, the party and police said on Wednesday, a day after they scaled barricades to enter a historic site popular for protests and chanted slogans demanding the election chief’s resignation.
The detentions risk triggering fresh protests by youth supporters at a time when opposition groups and student bodies are holding almost daily demonstrations to demand commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation over voter list revisions that critics say favour Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The Election Commission has denied favouring any party and said wrongly deleted voters can re-enrol, while the BJP has accused rivals of trying to undermine democracy by wrongly questioning legitimate electoral processes.
CJP leaders Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das were among about a dozen people who jumped barricades on Tuesday to enter the grounds of the Jantar Mantar open air observatory in Delhi’s central business district.
Police said this week that the site — previously designated for demonstrations — was no longer an official protest venue.
Das and Ranka were sent to jail for violating a legal undertaking they had given authorities when they were released from detention last week, their lawyer Abhisht Hela told reporters.
Delhi Police also said they were punished due to their “repeated violations” and “serious apprehensions” that they would “again violate law and instigate others to violate law” if released on bail.
CJP leader Ajinkya Shinde, who was released on a personal bond, said the party would not be “frightened” by its leaders’ imprisonment.
“We will put an end to this dictatorial government,” he said.
The ‘cockroach’ movement has mobilised protests in recent months against issues ranging from government school infrastructure to jobs and is among Modi and his BJP’s biggest political challenges in his 12 years in power.
A weeks-long sit-in by its supporters at Jantar Mantar earlier this year forced Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation over exam paper leaks.
The recent demonstrations erupted after the Indian Express newspaper reported that Kumar’s two deputies raised several concerns internally about the changes, registration procedures and digital systems.
The revisions, which started last year, removed over 130 million names — more than the population of Japan — from voter lists, including 28 million who died, 63 million who relocated, and 30 million who could not be traced.
Opposition parties allege the deletions disproportionately affect Muslims and other minorities, who are unlikely to support the Hindu nationalist ruling party — allegations the poll panel and BJP reject.
