Indian demonstrators staged a rally in New Delhi on Friday, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged voter-roll irregularities, but were blocked by heavy police deployments.

The demonstration followed a newspaper investigation published by The Indian Express last month, which alleged impropriety during a large-scale voter-list revision that has struck millions of names from electoral rolls.

The Election Commission of India (ECI), the constitutional body responsible for conducting elections, has rejected allegations of wrongdoing regarding the revision, stating that the media report gave "only one part of the picture."

Meanwhile, opposition politicians have accused the head of the ECI of acting at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Opposition party members also joined the protest in New Delhi and were briefly detained by police.

Authorities sealed off Jantar Mantar, a government-designated protest site in the heart of the capital, behind barricades as protesters gathered on surrounding roads.

Mobile internet services were also suspended in the area.

October 2 is a public holiday marking the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, and demonstrators said they were invoking his principles of peaceful demonstration.

Protesters waved India's flag and chanted slogans against the Election Commission, demanding its chief Gyanesh Kumar step down.

"My motivation is our future," Nidhi Sharma, 19, a Delhi University student, told AFP. "I have to vote."

Mina Giri, 38, who said she had lived in Delhi for 15 years and voted in previous elections, stated that her name had been removed from the rolls.

"How could my fundamental right be taken away from me?" she said.

Another protester, Imran, 18, said his family had been left off the list.

"Because of this, we are struggling to get our other official documents being made, which prevents us from getting government scheme benefits," he said.

"We are poor, don't have alot and dependent on it."

Kumar has not commented on the allegations.

The protests in New Delhi came ahead of demonstrations on the same issue expected in Mumbai later Friday by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), marking its first protests since July, when its campaign helped oust the education minister.

The CJP began in May as a satirical online movement launched by 31-year-old Abhijeet Dipke and grew into a youth protest campaign.

India's opposition parties have also announced plans to escalate demonstrations, scheduling a march to the Election Commission in New Delhi on October 6 and holding "Save Democracy" rallies countrywide in the days following.

Source: AFP