India's 'cockroach' movement chief detained ahead of major protest

"Arresting cockroaches straight off their flight shows an unprecedented level of fear," say opposition leader

Indian police detained the head of the satirical Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) online movement on Saturday ahead of a major protest it called against the Election Commission, the party said.

Abhijeet Dipke and two other leaders were detained before disembarking from a flight in the capital New Delhi, where the demonstration was due to take place, the youth-led CJP said in a social media post.

The protests are the culmination of weeks of opposition mobilisation following allegations of misconduct during a nationwide voter-roll revision by the Election Commission of India (ECI).

Opposition parties and critics say the revision could disenfranchise millions of voters and benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The ECI has rejected allegations of impropriety in the "special intensive revision", saying it was intended to remove duplicate and ineligible voters.

"It's official... we are living under an absolute dictatorship ruled by Modi," Arvind Kejriwal of the opposition Aam Aadmi Party said in a statement.

"Arresting cockroaches straight off their flight shows an unprecedented level of fear."

Delhi has been under a strict security clampdown since Friday, with tens of thousands of police and paramilitary personnel deployed to stop those seeking to reach the main protest site in the heart of the capital.

Authorities have closed dozens of metro stations, cancelled several trains coming to Delhi and shut down mobile internet temporarily around the protest site.

Television images on Saturday showed police chasing down several protesters and hauling them into vehicles in areas around central Delhi.

More than 200 protesters have been detained so far, local media reports said.

The protests are widely seen as a reprise of CJP's mass mobilisation in July, which led to the education minister stepping down over an examination scandal.

This time, they are demanding ECI chief Gyanesh Kumar resign from his post.

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