India’s opposition parties marched to the Supreme Court in Delhi on Monday to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged voter fraud.
Opposition parties allege that voter rolls are being manipulated to benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Election Commission and the BJP have rejected the charge.
The lawmakers wanted to hand a memorandum to Chief Justice Surya Kant, who declined a meeting citing “certain reasons”. Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said the Chief Justice had asked them to file a petition, which they planned to do at the end of the march.
Authorities deployed thousands of security personnel, barricaded roads and restricted entry at some metro stations. Over the weekend, police detained thousands of people during an attempted protest by the Cockroach Janata Party pressure group. Reporters Without Borders said at least 16 Indian journalists were detained.
BJP President Nitin Nabin accused the opposition and the group of trying to destabilise India “at the behest of foreign forces”.
