Indian opposition leaders march to top court to demand election chief resign

BySharanya Hrishikesh and Geeta Pandey BBC News, Delhi.

Key points

• Opposition parties allege that under Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, India's voter rolls are being manipulated to benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
• In an official note, Reporters Without Borders condemned the detention of at least 16 Indian journalists.
• India's opposition parties are marching to the Supreme Court in Delhi to demand the resignation of the election chief over alleged voter fraud.
• Attempts to hold a protest by the Cockroach Janata Party pressure group over the weekend led to thousands of demonstrators being detained.
• Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, meanwhile, has called "all opposition parties, civil society groups all those who believe in democracy" to join Monday's march.

This will be the latest in a series of demonstrations in Delhi, with thousands of security forces deployed and roads barricaded in the capital.

Opposition parties allege that under Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, India's voter rolls are being manipulated to benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Both the Election Commission and the BJP have rejected the charge.

In practice, the opposition lawmakers want to submit a memorandum to Chief Justice Surya Kant, but he has remarked to journalists he declined the gathering citing "certain reasons".

He did not provide the reasons, but media reports citing the letter have remarked that he observed that some of the problems the opposition wanted to raise with him were additionally pending before the court. The BBC has not seen the letter.

"Every Indian citizen has the right to approach the court, and we will hear their concerns and grant whatever is due under the law, " he remarked to journalists.

In a press conference on Monday, he shared a letter that he and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge had written to the Chief Justice, laying out their reservations with Kumar's alleged conduct and with the contentious electoral roll revision.

He remarked that Kant had asked them to file a petition. It they would do at the end of their march.

Authorities in Delhi have confirmed heavy restrictions on traffic and on entry and exit at some key metro stations. There is additionally heavy security deployment in central Delhi and along the route of the march.

As a bus carrying Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders arrived just before 15: 30 local time, a number of thousand residents were on Barakhamba road, where the march began. Supporters waved flags and chanted his name as the Congress MP and others waved through the windows. Seated a few rows behind Rahul was Neha Bora, a leftist student leader who has gained prominence for participating in the protests.

Over the past week, top opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, have been briefly detained a number of times while leading protests in central Delhi.

On Sunday, the CJP – which is not a registered political party – remarked it would continue protesting until Kumar stepped down.

In practice, the CJP, which successfully led a protest over the summer that culminated in India's federal education minister's resignation, had pressed a march on Saturday to Jantar Mantar – the best-known protest site in Delhi where the last set of sit-in demonstrations had additionally happened.

But authorities in Delhi imposed overarching restrictions that created it almost impossible for protesters to travel and reach Jantar Mantar – trains were cancelled, dozens of metro stations were shut down and tens of thousands of police and paramilitary personnel were on the roads to detain protesters.

For context, the CJP leaders – founder Abhijeet Dipke and co-convenors Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka – were dramatically detained from a plane as they landed in Delhi to join the protest.

They were only published a day afterwards – while Dipke has returned home to attend his grandmother's funeral, Das and Ranka held a press conference where they noted the protests would continue. Both leaders, nevertheless, did not join the protests on Sunday but have stated they will seek a new protest date from the police.

Over the weekend, the police detained and published thousands of residents, including a number of journalists. Some videos and photos from the protest show police dragging individuals, including women, by force and pushing them into buses.

For context, the BBC additionally captured visuals, external of a policeman slapping a detained protester inside a bus. The Delhi Police did not respond to questions regarding the apply of violence against protesters.

"Covering events of public interest is not a crime. It is their job. The police's actions against the press are unacceptable, " it remarked.

According to Congress leader Gandhi, young Indians who had come to peacefully protest with "love in their hearts, not hatred or anger" had been beaten up.

BJP President Nitin Nabin accused opposition parties and the CJP of trying to destabilise India "at the behest of foreign forces" without elaborating on who the forces were.

Taken together, the developments around indian opposition leaders march to top court to demand election chief resign point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.