Over 400 SFI Members Detained Ahead of Delhi Protest

New Delhi: More than 400 members of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) were detained in Delhi ahead of the protest by left wing youth and student organisations against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over irregularities in electoral rolls, SFI National President Adarsh M Saji said.

Several student activists and lawyers marching from the Supreme Court towards Jantar Mantar were also detained ahead of the demonstration. The left parties had called for a protest against manipulation of voter lists during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and irregularities involving Form 6, which is used for voter registration. The outfit also demanded Kumar’s resignation.

The Delhi Police had denied permission for the demonstration at Jantar Mantar, citing security concerns and procedural requirements. According to Saji, more than 400 SFI members were detained after they began marching at around 10 am.

Meanwhile, the police has detained several senior leaders, who were in Delhi in solidarity for the protest. CPI(M) leaders including M A Baby, Pinarayi Vijayan, M V Govindan, K K Shailaja were arrested. Heavy security forces were also deployed at AKG Bhavan.

According to reports, leaders like Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, youtuber and activist Dhruv Rathee were also detained by the police.

AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal criticised the government over the detention of the CJP leaders, describing the arrests as evidence of what he called an “unprecedented level of fear”.

In a post on X, Kejriwal accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government of authoritarianism and alleged that the election had been won through “vote chori”. He also accused the government of attempting to suppress democracy to protect what he described as electoral fraud.

In addition, security was tightened outside the residence of CJP convenor Abhijeet Dipke in Maharashtra’s Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in view of the planned protest in the national capital.

Dipke and CJP leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were detained by Delhi Police inside their flight shortly after it landed in Delhi earlier in the day.

A senior local police official police told media personnel that deployment had been increased outside Dipke’s residence in the MIDC Waluj area. A team of 20 policemen was assigned to the location, replacing the single guard previously stationed there, the official said, citing the situation in Delhi.