NEW DELHI — India deployed thousands of police in its capital and restricted transportation in and around Delhi ahead of mass demonstrations today demanding the resignation of the country’s election chief over alleged voter-roll irregularities.

The protests, called by the youth-led Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), are the culmination of weeks of opposition mobilisation following allegations of misconduct during a nationwide voter-roll revision.

Demonstrations erupted across the country after a newspaper investigation last month alleged misconduct by the Election Commission of India (ECI)

The ECI has rejected allegations of impropriety in the “special intensive revision”, saying it was intended to remove duplicate and ineligible voters.

Opposition parties and critics say the exercise could disenfranchise voters to the benefit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Tens of thousands of police officers and paramilitary personnel have been deployed across the capital, with multiple layers of yellow metal barricades blocking roads leading to Jantar Mantar, the usual government-designated protest site.

Police have not authorised rallies at the site this weekend.

The protests, called by the CJP, are widely seen as a reprise of its mass mobilisation in July, which led to the education minister stepping down over an examination scandal.

This time, they are demanding ECI chief Gyanesh Kumar resign.