Founder of Indian opposition 'Cockroach Janta Party' group, Dipke, detained ahead of protest

Indian police detained Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the opposition Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), on Friday ahead of a protest in New Delhi's Connaught Place demanding the resignation of the election chief over a voter list revision that deleted over 130 million names. Dipke was detained as he left a house, with police warning him earlier.

Indian police detained Abhijeet Dipke, the founder of the opposition Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), on Friday ahead of a protest he called in New Delhi's Connaught Place business district. The protest was the latest in a series of almost daily demonstrations this month demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over a revision of voter lists that critics say favors Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP. More than 130 million voters were deleted during the revision, though the Election Commission has denied favoring any party and said wrongly deleted voters can re-enrol. Dipke called Friday's protest in support of two CJP leaders who were detained and jailed for five days for demonstrating in violation of a ban. Live video on CJP's Instagram showed Dipke being stopped by police as he left a house, briefly arguing, and then being taken away in a police car. Police had warned Dipke earlier on Friday against proceeding with the protest. There was no immediate comment from police on the detention.