Indians protest election chief ahead of top court hearing
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Protests began on Oct 2 demanding the resignation of Election Commission of India chief Gyanesh Kumar.
PHOTO: AFP
- Indians protested for a third day demanding Election Commission chief Gyanesh Kumar's resignation over alleged voter-roll manipulation, which the ECI denies.
- Sexual harassment allegations arose against police officers during protests in New Delhi, prompting a police investigation and calls for the accused officer's arrest.
- Opposition parties and activists plan further rallies, including a major mobilisation on Oct 10, to demand fair elections and protect democracy in India.
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NEW DELHI – Indian opposition activists rallied for a third day on Oct 4 demanding the election commission chief’s resignation, alleging wrongdoing during a large-scale revision of voter rolls in the world’s largest democracy.
Protests began on Oct 2 demanding the Election Commission of India (ECI) chief Gyanesh Kumar step down after concerns at the revision that has removed millions of names from voter lists.
The ECI has rejected allegations of wrongdoing. Kumar himself has not commented.
The Supreme Court is expected to hear petitions concerning key voter-list decisions on Oct 5, Indian media reported.
Thousands marched in Mumbai on Oct 4, waving Indian flags and anti-Kumar placards as they called on him to resign.
Demonstrators take part in a protest demanding the resignation of Election Commission of India chief Gyanesh Kumar on Oct 4 in New Delhi.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Protesters have included supporters of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) – which began in May as a satirical online movement, and succeeded in its campaign to oust the then education minister.
“Mumbai is out on the streets again for free and fair elections!” CJP chief Abhijeet Dipke said in a social media post on Oct 4. “Solidarity with all the protesters,” he added. “All Indians need to come together. It’s now or never!”
In New Delhi, large numbers of police deployed around India Gate, barring protesters.
A few dozen activists, including key CJP supporters, gathered outside a police station after sexual harassment allegations were made against officers during protests in the capital on Oct 3.
Delhi police launched an investigation into the allegations against officers during protests in New Delhi a day earlier.
The harassment allegations were made after police detained scores of protesters around the government-designated protest site of Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Oct 3.
“Allegations of sexual harassment were made by three female journalists against police officers,” Delhi police said in a statement, promising “a fair and impartial enquiry”.
Dipke said that the accused officer “must be arrested immediately”.
Police officers stop a demonstrator trying to jump out of a bus window broken by detained protesters in New Delhi, on Oct 4.
PHOTO: REUTERS
‘Whataboutery’
The Press Club of India said it was “shocked and dismayed” at the treatment of journalists during the protests, adding that the media “must be allowed to work freely, without fear”.
Opposition politicians have accused the ECI of acting at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
They have said they will march to the Election Commission in New Delhi on Oct 6 and hold “Save Democracy” rallies countrywide afterwards.
The CJP has called for a “massive mobilisation of young Indians” in New Delhi on Oct 10.
A day before the Supreme Court hearing, one apex court judge criticised the ECI’s voter-roll deletions according to a report in Bar and Bench legal news website.
“If any process results in disenfranchising millions and millions of Indian citizens making them second class citizens in their own country in the sense of being citizens without voting rights, such a process is intrinsically arbitrary,” Judge Ujjal Bhuyan said in a speech at a university.
“No amount of whataboutery can justify it,” Bhuyan added, according to the report. AFP