‘People have a right to seek answers’: Inside India’s unrest over the electoral process

Protests over a voter-list overhaul that put more than 130 million names at risk have expanded into a broader political confrontation The administration in the Indian capital, New Delhi, has been on its toes since last week as Indian opposition parties and an informal movement known as Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) are staging protests over the removal of millions of names from voter ‌lists .

New Delhi became a fortress over the weekend, with barricades made of iron and armed personnel stationed at nearly all major intersections ahead of the protests.

Still, people showed up, thousands were detained, and the formal opposition parties took the baton with a massive march towards the Supreme Court on Monday.

The key demand of the protesters is the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over allegations that a country-wide revision of the electoral database is helping the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) party, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to stay in power and win elections across states.

Both the BJP and the Election Commission have rejected the accusations.

READ MORE: ‘Cockroaches’ are back in the streets: Here is why India faces a new wave of protests CJP back in action The CJP, a youth movement born out of an online meme, became prominent earlier this year for staging massive protests against irregularities in the examination system that eventually led to the resignation of the country’s education minister.

This time, the protests are challenging the nationwide Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls done by the Election Commission of India earlier this year.

The CJP and formal opposition parties allege that the SIR exercise caused the widespread and irresponsible deletion of people from electoral rolls.

Reports say there have been 130 million names deleted from the provisional electoral rolls through the ongoing revision process.

The Election Commission says this is necessary to eliminate duplicate names, names of deceased people, and those who have migrated.

It also maintained that it operated strictly under constitutional and legal frameworks.

On Saturday, thousands of young activists, students, and opposition leaders gathered around Jantar Mantar and several other prominent locations in the center of the Indian capital.

This is despite warnings from the police and the lack of official permission to protest.

Police personne have been deployed at the NoidaDelhi Chilla Border amid the 'Cockroach Janata Party' protest on October 11, 2026 in New Delhi, India. © Sunil Ghosh/Hindustan Times via Getty Images The Delhi Police formally denied permission for the Jantar Mantar protest on Saturday, citing public order and traffic concerns.