India voter-roll protesters demand election chief resign

Indian protesters rallied in New Delhi on Friday to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged voter-roll irregularities, but large police deployments blocked them from the main protest site.

Police sealed off Jantar Mantar, a government-designated protest site in the capital, with barricades as protesters gathered on surrounding roads. Opposition party members joined the protest and were briefly detained by police. Mobile internet services were also suspended in the area.

The protest followed a The Indian Express investigation last month that alleged impropriety during a large-scale voter-roll revision that struck millions of names from lists. The Election Commission of India has rejected allegations of wrongdoing over the revision, and Kumar has not commented on the allegations.

Opposition politicians have accused the head of the Election Commission of acting at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party. Protesters waved Indian flags and chanted slogans against the commission. Some protesters said their names or relatives' names had been removed from voter lists.

Opposition parties have announced plans to march to the Election Commission in New Delhi on October 6 and hold "Save Democracy" rallies across the country in the following days.