Indian police detained the head of the satirical Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) online movement on Saturday ahead of a major protest it called against the Election Commission, the party said.

Abhijeet Dipke and two other leaders were detained before disembarking from a flight in the capital New Delhi, where the demonstration was due to take place, the youth-led CJP said in a social media post.

Opposition parties and critics say the revision could disenfranchise millions of voters and benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The ECI has rejected allegations of impropriety in the "special intensive revision", saying it was intended to remove duplicate and ineligible voters.

"It's official... we are living under an absolute dictatorship ruled by Modi," Arvind Kejriwal of the opposition Aam Aadmi Party said in a statement.

"Arresting cockroaches straight off their flight shows an unprecedented level of fear."

Television images on Saturday showed police chasing down several protesters and hauling them into vehicles in areas around central Delhi.

More than 200 protesters have been detained so far, local media reports said. Those detained included protest supporter Dhruv Rathee, a popular figure on YouTube.

India deployed thousands of police in its capital and restricted transportation in and around Delhi ahead of mass demonstrations.

Demonstrations erupted across the country after a newspaper investigation last month alleged misconduct by the head of the Election Commission of India, Gyanesh Kumar.

Tens of thousands of police officers and paramilitary personnel have been deployed across the capital, with multiple layers of yellow metal barricades blocking roads leading to Jantar Mantar, the usual government-designated protest site.

Criticism of Kumar, who has denied all accusations, soared last month after a report in the Indian Express newspaper.

The paper said his two deputies had raised at least 14 formal objections over 10 months to decisions regarding voter rolls, registration procedures and ⁠the poll body's digital systems.

Election Commission data shows that more than 130 million names, a ⁠figure exceeding the population of ⁠Japan, have been struck off the voter list since the latest round of revisions began last year.

The opposition has long claimed that the ‌government is trying to fix voter lists to its advantage and was quick to repeat the accusations after the Indian Express report.

The allegations are a fresh challenge for 76-year-old Modi during his third term in office.

Authorities have ordered the closure of dozens of metro stations, and cancelled several trains coming to New Delhi.

However, the Supreme Court on Friday said some trains must still run and that there should be no blanket closure of metro stations.

"The dictator would rather shut down the entire national capital and inconvenience millions of citizens than allow a peaceful protest at a designated protest site," Dipke said on X. "Imagine how many lives would be affected because of this shutdown by Modi." (AFP/Reuters)




Edited by Azam Khan