Prominent student leader Neha Bora, center, shouts slogans as she is arrested by police during a youth protest demanding the resignation of the country’s election chief Gyanesh Kumar in New Delhi, India, Friday, October 16, 2026.
Vipin/AP
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Vipin/AP
NEW DELHI — Thousands of Indians gathered on a busy thoroughfare in the heart of the capital, waving the national flag and demanding the resignation of the country’s election chief, the latest show of public dissent against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
Protesters gathered at Connaught Place, one of New Delhi’s busiest commercial districts, in response to a call from the “Cockroach” youth movement, whose leader Abhijeet Dipke was arrested by police before the demonstration. Protesters from multiple generations joined the rally, reflecting widespread public anger and intensifying pressure on the country’s top election official.
Protests by youth and opposition parties have intensified following the ongoing revision of the electoral rolls which has removed more than 130 million names since last year. Critics say the exercise is politically motivated, threatens to disenfranchise millions more and has disproportionately affected minorities, particularly Muslims. They demanded the resignation of Chief Election Officer Gyanesh Kumar.
Student activist Neha Bora, center, shouts slogans during a youth protest demanding the resignation of the country’s election chief Gyanesh Kumar in New Delhi, India, Friday, October 16, 2026.
Prabhat Mehrotra/AP
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Prabhat Mehrotra/AP
The Election Commission and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration deny the allegations and say the revision aims to remove duplicate and ineligible entries.
Friday’s protest was part of a growing campaign that has put Modi’s government under pressure and comes a week after a police crackdown on protesters in New Delhi.
Protesters far outnumbered security personnel lining the road, while columns of riot police kept watch.
Police had previously asked people not to join the rally and offered to let a small group gather to wave the national flag and sing the national anthem. In anticipation of the protests, authorities also closed Central Park, a green space surrounded by white colonial-era buildings in Connaught Place, on Friday and Saturday.
Modi has not commented publicly on the protests. Some leaders in his party called the protesters “anarchists” and suggested, without providing evidence, that they were supported by foreign powers.
Police arrested Dipke, the founder of the Cockroach movement, before the protests. He had urged his supporters who could not travel to New Delhi to raise the flag and demonstrate in their own communities.
Security personnel patrol past a tricolor (Indian flag) waving protest organized by the ‘Cockroach’ youth movement demanding the resignation of India’s election chief in central New Delhi, India, Friday, October 16, 2026.
Channi Anand/AP Photo/Channi Anand/AP
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Channi Anand/AP Photo/Channi Anand/AP
Live video posted to the movement’s Instagram account showed Dipke leaving a house and heading toward the street, where police officers intercepted him. After a brief exchange, the officers took him into a police vehicle and drove away.
“Waving the tricolor (Indian flag) is not a crime,” he told reporters on Thursday.
The “Cockroach” movement began this summer as a satirical online campaign after India’s chief justice compared unemployed youth to parasites. Many young Indians have embraced this remark, adopting the cockroach as a symbol of resilience. It has since expanded into a nationwide youth protest movement. Protests led by the group forced the resignation of Modi’s education minister in July, a rare setback for the prime minister, who has been in power for more than 12 years.
It remains to be seen whether the protests will turn into a broader political movement. Modi’s government remains electorally strong, and anger over the voter rolls does not necessarily translate into support for the opposition, which has used the issue to criticize his Hindu nationalist government.
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