Authorities in India’s capital New Delhi are deploying thousands of police and paramilitary personnel ahead of a protest called today by the ‘Cockroach’ youth movement to demand the elections chief quit over a revision of voter lists.
Several long-distance trains coming into Delhi were also cancelled yesterday, and 57 Metro stations were closed, authorities said after organisers said they were expecting thousands of people to join the protest.
The anger against the voter verification drive that began last year has become one of the biggest political controversies since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, and comes ahead of crucial state elections starting early next year.
Election Commission data, which is also cited by BJP, shows about 130 million names, more than the population of Japan, have been deleted from voter lists during the verification exercise, including 63m people who had relocated, 30m who could not be traced, and 28m who were dead.
Opposition parties say the voter deletions affected the outcome of some recent state elections that Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won, and have cast a shadow on the electoral process in the world’s largest democracy.
The BJP says Modi’s popularity and India’s economic growth are some key reasons for its electoral dominance.
Thousands of police and paramilitary forces, including some from sensitive areas such as Indian Kashmir, were being sent into the capital for the protest, according to a government document seen by Reuters.
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