Day two on the barricades: Delhi police detain Gen Z-led protesters over the voter-roll revision

NEW DELHI: Indian police detained several people in the capital on Saturday, disrupting a second day of protests backed by the Gen Z-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and other opposition groups against changes to voter rolls. About 100 demonstrators removed security barricades on Saturday and chanted "vote thief, leave the post" and "Gyanesh Kumar, step down" before police forcibly detained some of them, according to a Reuters witness. Independent MP Kapil Sibal, All India Students' Association president Neha Bora, and activists Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav were among the protesters. "First they removed people from the voters list and now they are not letting us raise our voice against this. This is not acceptable," Bora told Reuters. The police declined to comment on the number and identity of those detained. On Friday, police had stopped a group of protesters from gathering, bundling them into buses, while several nearby metro stations remained shut amid tight security. Though police released many of those detained on Friday, they charged several of them with allegedly violating orders banning mass gatherings in Delhi, according to a police source. The protesters say the changes benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi's governing party and are demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, who has not commented on the protests or the demand that he step down. Critics say a nationwide voter-verification exercise launched last year has led to millions of eligible voters being removed from electoral rolls. The commission, long regarded as one of the country's most trusted institutions, says the exercise is intended to remove duplicate, deceased or ineligible voters. On Friday, the commission directed officials to register newly eligible voters and those omitted from electoral rolls. The demonstrations mark the latest in a series of youth-led protests that have emerged this year, putting pressure on Modi that Reuters described as unprecedented in his 12 years in power. The CJP has called for a mass protest at Delhi's Jantar Mantar on October 10 if Kumar does not resign. In Mumbai, the CJP's protest at Shivaji Park drew thousands of participants, including actors Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi, according to reports. A 75-year-old participant reportedly died after complaining of chest pain, and the protest's leader was arrested. Maharashtra minister Ashish Shelar criticised the demonstration, while a counter-protest led to some commotion, reports said.