India’s ‘cockroach’ movement founder arrested

Police arrested Indian “cockroach” movement founder Abhijeet Dipke, according to several media reports on Saturday, after he was detained on Friday ahead of a Delhi rally that drew hundreds of people waving the national flag and demanding the resignation of India’s election chief. Dipke was arrested to prevent a breach of the peace and will be called before a court, broadcasters NDTV and India Today said early on Saturday. The broadcasters did not give a court date. The youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), opposition groups and student organisations have held near-daily protests this month demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation over a revision of voter lists that they say favours Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). More than 130 million voters were deleted during the revision. The Election Commission has denied favouring any party and said wrongly deleted voters can re-enrol. The BJP has accused rivals of trying to undermine de