Police detain leaders of India’s ‘cockroach’ movement at New Delhi protest

Police in the Indian capital have detained leaders of the country’s youth-led “cockroach” movement after they jumped barricades to enter a popular protest site in New Delhi while calling for the resignation of the country’s chief election commissioner (CEC) over voter list revisions. Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Ashutosh Ranka, Saurav Das and Ajinkya Shinde were among about 20 volunteers who “sneaked” into Jantar Mantar to “reclaim” the popular protest site and were detained on Tuesday. CJP supporters and opposition parties have held protests nearly every day this month to demand CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s ⁠resignation over the revisions, which critics say favour Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).