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

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). Read moreIndia protests grow over Election Commission mistrust 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 unpreceden...