Abhijeet Dipke detained before Delhi vote-roll protest

Indian activist Abhijeet Dipke was detained by police in New Delhi on Saturday before he was due to lead a rally calling for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

Dipke, 31, founded the online Cockroach Janta Party movement, which is campaigning against alleged misconduct in a large-scale revision of voter rolls. Opposition parties and other critics have made similar demands over the Election Commission.

Two other prominent leaders of the movement were detained with Dipke before they could disembark from their flight into Delhi for the protest.

“This is dictatorship,” Dipke said in a video posted on social media before he was taken away by police. “We are not afraid of you. Go ahead and arrest us.”

The Cockroach Janta Party movement began after Chief Justice Surya Kant likened young people who criticised the government to “cockroaches” and “parasites”. Dipke later posted on X: “What if all cockroaches come together?”

The movement has drawn support from young Indians angered by unemployment, examination scandals and what they see as compromised institutions. Its Instagram account has more than 25 million followers.

Dipke has said he does not plan to turn the movement into a traditional political party. He has previously worked as a communications strategist for the opposition Aam Aadmi Party.

The movement's demonstrations helped force the resignation of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan in July over alleged irregularities in India's medical entrance examinations.

Dipke and other critics are now focusing on the Election Commission. Opposition groups say the voter-roll revision could disenfranchise millions of voters and benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party.