Photos: Protests over voter lists escalate in India’s capital

What the report says

Thousands of opposition supporters and allied activists marched in New Delhi in protest over India’s voter-roll revision, according to Al Jazeera’s photo report. The demonstrations centered on accusations that the purge of electoral lists could favor Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, while the Election Commission has said the process is meant to remove duplicate, deceased and fraudulent entries and denies wrongdoing.

The protests brought supporters of several opposition groups, as well as the youth-led Cockroach Janta Party movement, to the streets of the capital. They demanded that authorities stop deleting names from voter lists and called for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Al Jazeera reported that the rallies took place amid a strong security response, with thousands of police deployed in central Delhi, barricades erected and key metro stations closed.

The voter-list dispute has become a wider political flashpoint in India, where critics say the revisions may disproportionately affect minorities, including Muslims. Local reports cited by Al Jazeera said more than 133 million names have been removed from voter rolls since last year, though the article did not independently verify that figure. The protests also drew attention to police detentions over the weekend, including some organisers and journalists, before several detainees were later released.

The unrest comes as India’s election administration remains under scrutiny ahead of future contests, highlighting continuing tensions over electoral fairness and state response to dissent.