Indian police detain protesters amid dispute over voter-roll removals

Police detained protesters in New Delhi on Oct. 4, 2026, as thousands of young people and opposition supporters demonstrated for a third day in the capital and Mumbai, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over changes to India’s voter rolls.¹²

Detentions and demonstrations

Al Jazeera reported that police detained some demonstrators as they arrived in New Delhi and had prevented protesters from assembling during the previous two days. Some detainees were subsequently released, while police filed cases against others for allegedly breaching orders restricting mass gatherings in central New Delhi, according to the outlet.²

In central Delhi, videos from the Jantar Mantar protest site showed people being physically dragged away, the BBC reported. Aahna Singh, an activist and Jawaharlal Nehru University student, said, “Police dragged me by my hair,” and accused officers of “brutality”. Thousands also marched in Mumbai, where opposition leaders Raj Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray led the demonstration.¹²

Dispute over the electoral rolls

Protesters and opposition parties contend that the voter-list overhaul may benefit the BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Election Commission says 130 million names have been removed and describes the exercise as an effort to eliminate duplicate, deceased or otherwise ineligible entries. It has also instructed officials to restore eligible voters who were omitted inadvertently.¹²

Opposition groups have demanded Kumar’s resignation over the removal of 130 million voters, according to The New York Times. The government denied influencing the process, the newspaper reported. Both the Election Commission and the BJP deny claims that the exercise is meant to strip people of voting rights or help one political side. Kumar has not publicly addressed the resignation demands or the demonstrations, according to Al Jazeera.¹²³

Complaints against police

Three female journalists accused police officers of sexual harassment during the street protests in Delhi, according to the BBC. According to Delhi Police, the complaint was received by its New Delhi District unit and referred to the Crime Branch for an inquiry it described as “fair and impartial”. The Press Club of India called for immediate action on the complaints, while opposition leader Rahul Gandhi said women feared for their safety and that the home ministry must “answer for this”.¹

Pressure on the Election Commission

According to the BBC, commissioners Sandhu and Joshi lodged formal objections on no fewer than 14 occasions during a 10-month period, saying decisions and orders had allegedly been made without their awareness. The Election Commission said “differing views” were part of its decision-making process and maintained that every decision had ultimately been unanimous.¹

An alliance of opposition parties plans to march to the Election Commission’s office, Al Jazeera reported. The Gen Z-led Cockroach Janta Party, a pressure group that began as an online satirical movement, has announced a separate rally in New Delhi for Oct. 10. The group had previously organised weeks of demonstrations before then education minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned in July, according to the BBC.¹²