Indian "cockroach" movement founder Abhijeet Dipke has been arrested, according to several media reports on Saturday, after he was detained on Friday ahead of a Delhi ⁠rally that drew hundreds of people waving the national flag and demanding the resignation of India's election chief.

Dipke was arrested to prevent a breach of the peace and will be called before a court, broadcasters NDTV and India Today said early on Saturday.

The broadcasters did not give a court date.

The youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), ⁠opposition groups and student organisations have held near-daily protests ⁠this month demanding Chief Election ⁠Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation over a revision of voter lists that they say favours Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya ⁠Janata Party (BJP).

More than 130 million voters were deleted during the revision.

The Election Commission has denied favouring any party and said wrongly deleted voters can re-enrol.

The BJP has accused rivals of trying to undermine democracy by wrongly questioning legitimate electoral processes.

Dipke was detained on Friday as he stepped out of a house in central Delhi, with police hauling him into a police car and driving away after a brief argument.

Dipke had called Friday's protest in support of two CJP leaders detained and sent to jail this week for five days for demonstrating at a protest site in violation of a ban.

Earlier on Friday, police had met Dipke and warned him against going ahead with the protest.

Student activist Neha Bora, a prominent face of the protests, was also detained on Friday as she tried to reach Central Delhi with dozens of supporters ⁠but was later released. (Reuters)




Edited by Tony Sabine