Evening Pulse: A protest about voter lists has become a test of the right to protest

Something shifted this weekend. A dispute that began as a technical argument about who stays on India's electoral rolls has become a wider argument about whether citizens may gather in public to complain about it. By Sunday evening the Supreme Court, the United Nations human rights office, senior opposition leaders and thousands of young protesters had all been pulled in.

The day's most important moment came from the Supreme Court. At a special Sunday hearing, Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana directed that metro and rail services in Delhi run normally, that internet services stay undisturbed and that people be allowed to move freely. They said people gathering peacefully must not be detained except under the procedure set by law, and issued contempt notices to the Union Home Secretary, the Delhi Police Commissioner and the Delhi Metro. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court that services had already been restored and that legal procedures were followed. The case returns on Tuesday.

On the ground, the protest called by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar went into a second day. Police sources told PTI that more than 100 people were detained on Sunday while trying to march to Jantar Mantar. CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas alleged he was manhandled by police while detained; police had not responded in the reports we read. Earlier, an executive magistrate released CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke and colleagues Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka on bonds to keep the peace for a year. Das said protests would now spread across the country.

They already have. In Mumbai, police said around 400 to 600 people were detained on Saturday, among them Tushar Gandhi and actor Imran Khan, and activist Anjali Damania was detained at Shivaji Park on Sunday. In Ahmedabad, about 100 people were detained on Saturday evening. In each city police said permission had not been given.

The row also reached Geneva. A spokesperson for the UN human rights office voiced concern about mass detentions and urged the release of anyone arbitrarily held. India's Permanent Mission in Geneva called the remarks misplaced and an unwarranted interference in India's internal affairs, and said the right to peaceful assembly is guaranteed by the Constitution.

Monday is the next test. The INDIA bloc plans a protest march in Delhi, joined by Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar and Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy with their legislators. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi are to meet Chief Justice of India Surya Kant between 4 and 5 pm. Kharge said they would make a request, not demands, and accused the government of an undeclared emergency.

The other side is just as firm. Delhi Police say permission was refused because notice came too late, and that all legal procedures were followed. BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra has called the protests an attempt to spread anarchy. The Election Commission says the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exists to keep voter lists accurate, and that its decisions are unanimous and legally valid.

Far from Delhi, a different kind of politics played out. In Chennai, Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened projects worth over Rs 13,000 crore and rode the new Poonamallee-Vadapalani metro stretch with Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay, saying his commitment to Tamil Nadu does not depend on who governs the state. Vijay used the moment to ask for Metro Phase III, pending school education funds and high-speed rail.