Opposition leaders detained at Delhi's Jantar Mantar amid voter list dispute

Delhi Police have detained senior leaders of the youth-led Kakroch Janata Party (CJP), which has been protesting alleged manipulation of voter lists in India.

They were taken into custody on Tuesday morning after breaching a security cordon and entering Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. Those detained include party leaders Ashutosh Ranka, Saurabh Das and Ajinkya Shinde, along with other volunteers.

Opposition parties have been demanding the resignation of the Election Commission chief, alleging that voter lists have been manipulated to benefit the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Election Commission has denied the allegations of irregularities.

Delhi Police had said on Monday that Jantar Mantar had been removed from the list of officially designated protest sites. The site had been cordoned off with yellow metal barriers for several days, with a large police deployment.

On Monday itself, the CJP had given police a 24-hour ultimatum to set a date for a protest at the site against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Police suspect around six party members scaled a wall near the nearby JDU office premises to reach the protest site.