Six major metro stations in the Indian capital were closed and thousands of security personnel were deployed on Monday after protesters defied police barricades for a third straight day. Rahul Gandhi, leader of the main opposition Congress Party, waved a copy of the constitution as he led an evening march to the Supreme Court, where a petition was lodged overnight.
The petition alleges irregularities in the nationwide revision of voter lists, which struck more than 130 million names, including 28 million people who had died, 63 million who had relocated and 30 million who could not be traced. It seeks an audit of the deletions, safeguards against deletions without notice, a hearing, and an interim suspension of the revision.
Opposition parties and supporters of the "cockroach" youth movement are demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, arguing the changes benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party. The Election Commission of India has denied wrongdoing, saying wrongly deleted voters can re-enrol.
Delhi Police have banned Jantar Mantar, the city's decades-long protest hub, and designated three alternative venues, with barricades blocking every arterial road leading to the site. Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan accused the opposition of "discrediting constitutional institutions" in an effort to return to power. Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav vowed to continue the protests, calling the ban "the biggest defeat for the BJP government."
Opposition figures have accused authorities of using mass detentions to suppress dissent, while the BJP has described the protests as an attempt by Congress to seize power.