Authorities in New Delhi have increased security and closed a central park ahead of planned demonstrations by the youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) on Friday, October 16. The movement has called for supporters to gather in the city's central business district to wave the Indian national flag and assert their right to protest.
The CJP has held near-daily demonstrations demanding the resignation of the national election authority chief. These protests stem from a contentious voter-roll revision that resulted in the removal of more than 130 million people from voter lists.
As part of the crackdown, police detained Abhijeet Dipke, the leader of the CJP youth movement, before the planned Friday evening demonstration. This rally was organized in support of two party leaders who were detained and jailed earlier this week for demonstrating at a protest site.