Jantar Mantar taken off the list of designated official protest sites in New Delhi, say police
\n NEW DELHI
\nOpposition parties and supporters of the movement have taken to the streets in recent days, defying a security clampdown to demand the resignation of the head of India\u2019s election commission, accusing it of manipulating voter rolls to benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s ruling party.
\nThe Election Commission of India, which oversees the voting process in the world\u2019s most populous nation, has denied any wrongdoing. Delhi Police said on Monday that Jantar Mantar in the heart of the capital had been taken off the list of designated official protest sites.
\nThe site has been sealed off for several days by yellow metal barricades and guarded by a heavy police presence. But a video posted online by CJP leader Abhijeet Dipke on Tuesday showed protesters clambering over the barricades, running into the empty space and waving the national flag \u2014 before police chased and detained them.
\n\u201cCJP sneaks inside to reclaim Jantar Mantar,\u201d the group said in a post on social media, adding that those detained included leaders Saurav Das, Ashutosh Ranka and Ajinkya Shinde. \u201cAll of them have been detained by Delhi Police,\u201d it added.
\nDelhi Police had announced three official sites on Monday as alternatives to Jantar Mantar, where protesters have gathered for decades \u2014 including CJP demonstrations that led to the education minister stepping down over an examination scandal in July. \u201cYou cannot denotify the resistance,\u201d Dipke said, tagging Modi in his post.
\nModi, in comments at a business conference in New Delhi on Tuesday, called India the \u201cmother of democracy\u201d, but did not refer directly to the protests. \u201cIn our country, people openly debate a wide range of issues and discuss different perspectives,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jantar Mantar taken off the list of designated official protest sites in New Delhi, say police NEW DELHI Opposition parties and supporters of the movement have taken to the streets in recent days, defying a security clampdown to demand the resignation of the head of India\u2019s election commission, accusing it of manipulating voter rolls to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":572103,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-572091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n