Delhi shuts metro stations as opposition marches over voter-list purge
Delhi shut six metro stations Monday as opposition parties planned a march to India's top court. They are angry about a voter-list purge that cut more than 130 million names. Police held thousands of young protesters over the weekend, and their leaders want the election chief to quit.
Police in India's capital closed six metro stations on Monday and set traffic limits at 20 locations. Opposition parties planned to march to the Supreme Court to protest a revision of voter lists that has led to days of unrest in Delhi.
The revision, which began last year, removed more than 130 million names from voter rolls. Reuters reports that 28 million were people who had died, 63 million had moved, and 30 million could not be traced. Opposition parties say Muslims and other minorities were hit hardest. The Election Commission and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party deny that, and the commission says wrongly removed voters can sign up again.
The protests are led by the youth-run Cockroach Janta Party. Its founder, Abhijeet Dipke, started the movement in May after India's chief justice compared some jobless young people to "cockroaches." The group is not a registered party. It wants Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to resign.
On Saturday, police locked down central Delhi and stopped buses and cars at checkpoints. NPR reported that thousands of protesters were detained, and the BBC cited media reports of about 7,000. Dipke and two other leaders were freed Sunday on the condition that they not "breach peace" for a year. "The CJP will neither back down nor be intimidated," Dipke said.
The main opposition Congress party says it will deliver a letter to the chief justice calling the purge "vote theft." Congress leader Rahul Gandhi urged young people and civil groups to join the march. Reuters reports that the chief justice declined a meeting request.
The fight comes just months before major state elections.
What we know: Delhi closed six metro stations Monday ahead of an opposition march, after police detained thousands of youth protesters over the weekend.
What we don't: How many of the deleted voters were removed by mistake, and whether the Supreme Court will take up the challenge.
Where outlets agree Reuters, the BBC and the AP all report that police detained thousands of protesters in Delhi on Saturday over the voter-list revision.
Where they differ The outlets cited here report the same key facts so far.