How Modi put Delhi under siege to protect Gyanesh Kumar

What does authoritarianism sound like?

In Delhi’s posh Connaught Place on Saturday, it was the drone of automated police announcements, broadcast on loop from loudspeakers fitted on spiked poles.

“Making groups, taking out marches or any other action is barred,” a robotic voice announced. “Everyone should peacefully move out from here and follow the police’s orders.”

A few feet away, the intersection bristled with paramilitary troops waiting to pounce on any protester they could spot. On the other side was a wall of yellow barricades. The street was empty. The Delhi Police had blocked off almost all traffic to Connaught Place, the city centre.

This unprecedented bandobast was intended to stop demonstration against Gyanesh Kumar, India’s Chief Election Commissioner, who protestors allege has rigged the voter rolls to favour the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

On Saturday, the Modi government pulled out all stops to protect Kumar.

The fort of Delhi

To prevent protesters from reaching Jantar Mantar, a legally designated protest site a few hundred metres from Connaught Place, the Delhi Police cordoned off the city centre with several layers of barricades. It also shut down all metro stations in the area. Before this, the Modi government had cancelled hundreds of trains heading to Delhi in an attempt to prevent protesters from other states from reaching...

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