YouTuber and political commentator Dhruv Rathee has called for a protest in London today over his claims of “vote chori” in Indian elections, urging supporters to gather near the Mahatma Gandhi statue in Parliament Square at noon.
Rathee made the announcement late on Friday night in a post on X, in which he said he had just reached London. According to Indian media reports, he asked supporters to assemble by the Gandhi statue at midday on Saturday, describing the issue as “vote chor” and writing: “International danka bajane ka time aa gaya hai” — loosely, that the time had come to take the row to the international stage.
In the post, published late on Friday night, Rathee wrote: “I’ve just reached London. It’s time the world sees the reality of vote chor and murderer of democracy.” He told followers he would be at the square at noon on Saturday and urged them to join him.
The announcement has been widely reported in Indian media. The protest has not yet taken place; London Streets will update this story as events unfold.
The call comes a week after Rathee was detained by Delhi Police in Gurugram ahead of a protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar organised by Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls and changes concerning Form 6, the form used to register as a voter. Indian media reported at the time that he was released after nearly 18 hours in detention.
What the row is about
At the centre of the dispute are claims of alleged irregularities in India’s voter lists. “Vote chori” — literally “vote theft” — is a phrase used by opposition figures in India to allege manipulation of the rolls. The current row focuses on the Election Commission of India’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, a voter-list exercise that has drawn claims of alleged irregularities from campaigners, including concerns around changes concerning Form 6 voter registrations.
Rathee’s intervention takes the row beyond India’s borders. By choosing Parliament Square — across the road from the Houses of Parliament — the protest, if it goes ahead, would place the claims before a British and international audience.
A familiar stage for protest
Parliament Square is one of London’s most recognisable demonstration sites. The 2.7-metre bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi, unveiled in 2015, stands on the square among statues of figures including Nelson Mandela and Winston Churchill, facing the Houses of Parliament across the road. Rallies there routinely attract national and international media coverage, and India-linked demonstrations have become a recurring feature of the square in recent years.
News of the planned Dhruv Rathee Parliament Square protest lands in a city where Indian politics increasingly plays out on the streets. London is home to one of Britain’s largest Indian diasporas, and Westminster has in recent months seen competing demonstrations over Indian affairs.
London’s large Indian diaspora has been politically active in Westminster in recent months. Earlier today, London Streets reported that members of the diaspora staged a counter-protest outside the Indian High Commission in support of India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, amid demonstrations in the capital.
Last month, members of the capital’s Kashmiri community held a major protest in central London over reported killings in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
The Metropolitan Police routinely assess demonstrations in central London. In recent weeks the force has been drawn into rows over protest-related posts on social media, including an X post by former MP Sarah Helm that the Met said it was assessing over apparent support for the proscribed group Palestine Action.
Rathee is a prominent political commentator on YouTube with a large following in India and among the diaspora. Whether today’s call draws a crowd will become clear at noon.
