At least 100 detained in Bengaluru over voter list protest
At least 100 people, including senior journalist and activist Aakar Patel, were detained in Bengaluru on Monday before they could march to the chief electoral officer's office.
The protest, led by left student and youth groups, called out alleged irregularities in updating voter lists and demanded the chief election commissioner's resignation.
Protesters said police used excessive force, especially against women, and tried to intimidate journalists.
Protesters demand SIR cancelation
Protesters wanted to highlight issues such as names being unfairly deleted from voter rolls and a lack of transparency in the revision process.
They asked for the cancelation of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), restoration of January 2025 electoral rolls, and immediate cancelation of the SIR, resignation of Mr. Kumar, restoration of the January 2025 electoral rolls, and safeguards against arbitrary deletions in any future revision.
Police said they acted because the protest happened outside the approved area and said they did not know about the protest and were taken by surprise.