New Delhi: People in over 20 cities around the world gave a call against the Indian government’s crackdown on protesters demanding accountability from Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and widespread voter disenfranchisement in the country.A statement released by South Asian groups in London, Canada and the UK called for global solidarity protests on October 17 and 18 in support of the protests in India.“This crackdown by Prime Minister Narendra Modi follows widespread public mobilisation against the removal of voters from official registries and growing calls for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to resign.The nationwide unrest stems from investigative reports [2] detailing the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) voter eligibility process, which disenfranchised more than 130 million citizens—approximately 13% of the Indian electorate—from voter rolls across 30 states [3]. Civil society groups note that those disenfranchised include long-standing eligible voters and disproportionately belong to minority populations, especially Muslim communities,” the statement said.The statement detailed the harassment faced by students, journalists, lawyers and all others who have participated in the protests. “Security forces transformed New Delhi into a heavily barricaded, militarized zone. Transit access was severely restricted, with inbound trains canceled and 57 metro stations closed overnight,” the statement said.“The upcoming global solidarity actions will feature solidarity statements by concerned citizens across the world, first-hand testimonials from ground witnesses and remarks from individuals whose families are directly impacted by voter disenfranchisement,” it added.The protests were to be held in Austin, Chicago, Los Angeles, Montreal, New York, Philadelphia, Toronto, Vancouver, Berlin, Dublin, Erlangen, Freiburg, Göttingen, Gothenburg, Helsinki, London, Prague, The Hague, Brisbane and Melbourne, the statement said.