Thousands of youth protesters and opposition supporters rallied in Mumbai and New Delhi on Sunday for a third consecutive day, demanding the resignation of Election Commission of India chief Gyanesh Kumar over revisions to voter rolls.
Demonstrators allege the changes have removed millions of eligible voters and could benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party, allegations denied by both the Election Commission and the BJP.
Opposition leaders Raj Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray led thousands of demonstrators through Mumbai, where protesters carried Indian flags and called for the voter-roll revisions to be scrapped.
In New Delhi, demonstrators began gathering during the early evening despite police efforts to prevent assemblies in the capital.
Police detained some protesters as they arrived, continuing a crackdown that has seen dozens taken away by bus since Friday.
Some demonstrators breached barricades, surrounded vehicles transporting detainees, climbed onto them and lay on the road to prevent their departure.
Several people detained on Friday and Saturday were later released, while police registered cases against others for allegedly violating orders prohibiting mass gatherings in central New Delhi.
Delhi Police did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment regarding allegations of police brutality.
The Election Commission says the nationwide voter-roll revision, launched last year, is intended to remove duplicate, deceased or otherwise ineligible entries and preserve electoral integrity.
On Friday, the commission instructed officials to register eligible voters who had been inadvertently omitted from electoral rolls.
Kumar has not publicly responded to demands that he resign or commented on the demonstrations.
The protests are expected to continue, with an alliance of opposition parties planning a Tuesday march to the Election Commission office under a campaign to “save democracy.”
The Gen Z-led Cockroach Janta Party has separately announced a major rally in New Delhi for October 10.
The demonstrations follow earlier youth-led unrest, including student protests in July that resulted in the removal of the federal education minister after question papers for a national medical college entrance examination were leaked.