At issue is a sweeping revision of electoral rolls, known as Special Intensive Revision (SIR), that critics say has removed more than 130 million names, putting legitimate voters at risk of losing their right to vote.
The CJP wants Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to resign, accusing the poll panel of favouring Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Both the commission and the government deny the allegations.
Friday’s march comes less than a week after police prevented the movement’s last mass demonstration from taking place, detaining its leaders and deploying officers across the capital before protesters could assemble.
Dipke and two senior organisers, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, were detained from within the aircraft upon landing in Delhi.
The capital was put under a sweeping security lockdown. Tens of thousands of police and paramilitary personnel had fanned out across Delhi, sealing roads, shutting metro stations and intercepting protesters long before they could reach Jantar Mantar, where the CJP had planned its mass demonstration.
The BBC witnessed dozens of people being detained, including journalists and students. In footage from across Delhi, protesters could be seen shouting as police seized them by the arms, dragged them across the pavement and pushed them into waiting buses. Some struggled against the officers; others, already detained, pressed towards the bus windows, waving Indian flags.
Those who managed to gather elsewhere were swiftly dispersed. There were also reports of protesters being assaulted by police.
The BBC captured footage, external of a policeman slapping a detained protester inside a bus. The Delhi police did not respond to questions about the use of violence against protesters.
The scale of the crackdown drew accusations that the authorities were determined to prevent the protest rather than police it. The CJP likened the police action to India’s Emergency, when civil liberties were suspended between 1975 and 1977.
Delhi police defended the measures as necessary to maintain public order and prevent unauthorised gatherings.
