Indian police detain protesters over voter roll changes

Protesters claim the changes to voter rolls benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi's governing party. About 100 demonstrators removed security barricades on Saturday and chanted slogans before police forcibly detained some of them. Independent Member of Parliament Kapil Sibal, All India Students' Association President Neha Bora, and political activists Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav were among the protesters, according to a Reuters witness.

Neha Bora told Reuters that it was unacceptable that people were removed from the voters list and then not allowed to protest. The chief of the Election Commission, Gyanesh Kumar, has not commented on the protests or the demands for his resignation.

On Friday, police stopped a group of protesters from gathering and bundled them into buses, with several nearby metro stations shut amid tight security. Although many detained on Friday were released, some were charged with allegedly violating orders banning mass gatherings in Delhi, according to a police source.

Critics argue that a nationwide voter-verification exercise launched last year has resulted in millions of eligible voters being removed from electoral rolls. The Election Commission, however, states the exercise is intended to remove duplicate, deceased, or ineligible voters. On Friday, the commission directed officials to register newly eligible voters and those omitted from electoral rolls.