The leader of the "Cockroach" youth movement, Abhijeet Dipke, has defiantly announced that a major protest in New Delhi will proceed this Saturday, even as authorities report thousands of detentions among his supporters. The movement is demanding the resignation of election official Gyanesh Kumar, sparked by a contentious revision of national voting lists that reportedly excluded 130 million citizens. Dipke, addressing Prime Minister Narendra Modi via social media, signaled that the youth are no longer intimidated by state pressure and intend to march to the capital’s Jantar Mantar protest site regardless of the consequences.

In response to the planned demonstration, police have declared the gathering unauthorized and have warned of potential legal action against participants. Security in Delhi has been significantly ramped up, with thousands of police and paramilitary personnel deployed, and local authorities have moved to restrict mobility by canceling long-distance trains and closing specific metro station exits. While the Election Commission maintains that the voter list revision is a standard, ongoing process for cleaning up data, critics and opposition parties argue that the move is a targeted effort to disenfranchise voters, and they are now escalating their concerns by taking the matter directly to the President.