India’s Cockroach movement says members detained as protests continue

India’s opposition and student-led CJP movement demand election chief’s resignation, plan mass demonstration on Saturday.India’s Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) says that authorities have detained many of its members as thousands of the group’s supporters and members of several student groups continue to protest, demanding the election chief’s resignation.Thursday’s demonstrations come ahead of CJP-led antigovernment protests planned for Saturday, with thousands expected to march to Jantar Mantar, the designated protest site in the capital, New Delhi.Ashutosh Ranka, a spokesperson for the movement, said in a post on X on Thursday that “at least 10,000” people from CJP demonstrations, student organisations, affiliated grassroots groups and political parties had been detained across the country.Among those arrested is CJP national spokesman Deepak Baliyan, who was taken into police custody on Thursday, according to the group’s statements.Al Jazeera could not immediately verify the claims, but videos posted on X showed activists being taken away in vans.Opposition parties and students affiliated with the CJP movement have been demanding the resignation of the chief election commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, over a controversial revision of voter lists.They accuse the poll body he heads of benefitting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).A man walks past a graffiti-marked poster of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a protest by the opposition alliance in New Delhi on October 8, 2026, calling for the resignation of the country’s chief election commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar [Arun Sankar/AFP]On Thursday, CJP said that among those detained was ‌a group of students from the city of Pune who were headed for New Delhi to participate in planned protests at the iconic Jantar Mantar observatory. CJP said they were taken away in a bus to an unknown location.