Members of student organisations were detained in Bengaluru on Saturday after attempting to march from Freedom Park towards the Election Commission office, where they were protesting alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, PTI reported.
The protesters had gathered at Freedom Park and raised slogans calling for the SIR process to be scrapped. Heavy security arrangements were put in place around the protest site, with roads barricaded on both sides to prevent the demonstrators from reaching the Election Commission office, according to a statement issued by the organisers.
The office is located a few hundred metres from Freedom Park. AISA Karnataka, which participated in the demonstration, alleged that protesters were taken into custody shortly after they attempted to move beyond the barricades. The report did not include the number of people detained or details of any charges or notices issued to them.
The protest was jointly organised by several student bodies, including the All India Students’ Association (AISA), the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), the All India Democratic Students’ Organisation (AIDSO) and the All India Students’ Federation (AISF). Their demonstration focused on the electoral-roll revision process and the role of the Election Commission in overseeing it.
AISA Karnataka condemned what it described as police action against the protesters and said the detentions raised concerns about the legality of restricting the demonstration. The organisation characterised the action as suppression of the democratic right to protest. These claims were made in the statement issued by the group and were not independently established in the report.
The organisers demanded that the Karnataka government stop the detentions, release those taken into custody, remove the barricades and allow the protest to proceed peacefully. They also called for all areas within Freedom Park to be opened for public use, alleging that parts of the designated protest space had remained barricaded for the past five years.
Freedom Park is one of Bengaluru’s principal public locations for demonstrations, making access and police control at the site a recurring governance question whenever large gatherings are held. In this instance, the proximity of the protest venue to the Election Commission office led authorities to deploy hundreds of personnel and restrict movement along the connecting roads, according to the organisers.
The report did not provide a response from the Bengaluru police, the Karnataka government or the Election Commission to the allegations concerning the detentions, the barricades or the SIR process. The next official steps, including whether those detained would be released or face further proceedings, were not stated in the available report.
