Delhi Closes Central Park Ahead of Planned CJP Protest

New Delhi authorities closed Connaught Place’s Central Park to the public on Friday and Saturday as the Cockroach Janta Party prepared a protest calling for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged voter-roll irregularities. The planned 5 p.m. gathering’s location and scale remained uncertain on Friday morning, with police orders barring public assemblies in the area and officials saying a small group might be accommodated elsewhere. The New Delhi Municipal Council said in a notice dated October 15 that the park would be closed on October 16 and 17 for administrative reasons. The notice did not give further details. Police said the council had asked for security measures to prevent unauthorised access. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke called on supporters to assemble at the park with the national flag. The party’s call followed the detention and remand to judicial custody of its leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka after they entered Jantar Mantar, which police had recently removed from its designated protest-site status. The circumstances surrounding their detention and the party’s allegations of irregularities in voter rolls were not independently...