Indian police investigate sexual harassment allegations during election commission protests

Indian police have launched an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment against officers during protests in the capital against the country's election commission.

Protests began on Friday demanding the Election Commission of India (ECI) chief Gyanesh Kumar step down, alleging wrongdoing during a large-scale voter-roll revision that has struck millions of names from the lists.

The ECI has rejected allegations of wrongdoing. Mr Kumar himself has not commented.

The harassment allegations were made on Saturday, local time, when police detained scores of protesters around the government-designated protest site of Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.

"Allegations of sexual harassment were made by three female journalists against police officers," Delhi police said in a statement.

The agency promised "a fair and impartial enquiry" into the allegations.

In a video posted on social media, a complainant said a police officer pushed and touched her "inappropriately".

A third day of protests is slated in the capital on Sunday, including by left-wing groups and supporters of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which began in May as a satirical online movement, succeeding in its campaign to oust the then-education minister.

CJP chief Abhijeet Dipke, who warned against a police crackdown and detentions on Saturday, said that the accused officer "must be arrested immediately".

Neha Bora, an activist from a left-wing student organisation, called for protesters to march to New Delhi's central India Gate.

Meanwhile, the protests in the national capital and Mumbai have escalated with thousands of young protesters and opposition parties taking to the streets.

Protesters allege voter disenfranchisement

Thousands of young protesters and opposition parties staged protests in the national capital and Mumbai on Sunday, demanding the resignation of Election Commission chief Gyanesh Kumar, as police detained demonstrators for a third consecutive day.

Opposition leaders Raj Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray led protests in Mumbai calling for the scrapping of revisions to the electoral roll and for Mr Kumar's resignation.

In Delhi, protesters started gathering in the early evening and police started detaining some of them, according to a Reuters witness.

Many demonstrators were later released, though police registered cases against some for allegedly violating orders banning mass gatherings in the capital.

The protesters say a nationwide voter roll revision exercise launched last year has disenfranchised millions of eligible voters by removing them from electoral rolls.

They allege the changes benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party. The Election Commission and the BJP deny the allegations.

"⁠I just want to tell the ruling party this much … We are angry about how you are wielding that power. ⁠It's the people of this country who should decide who sits in power and who sits in opposition, not the Election Commission," Raj Thackeray said.

The protests are likely to intensify over the next few days as an alliance of India's opposition parties plans to launch protests to "save democracy" with a march to the Election ​Commission office on Monday. The gen Z Cockroach Janta Party has announced plans for a major rally in Delhi on October 10.

The demonstrations represent the latest in a series of youth-led challenges to Mr Modi's government — unprecedented in his 12 years in power.

In July, student protests forced the ouster of the federal education minister following a leak of question papers for a national medical college entrance examination, marking the worst political crisis of Mr Modi's third term in office.