Indian farmers who helped force Prime Minister Narendra Modi into a rare policy retreat four years ago are set to join nationwide protests against a contentious overhaul of voter rolls on Friday, widening a movement challenging the country’s Election Commission.

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, a coalition of farmers’ organizations, is planning to march to the poll body’s headquarters in New Delhi from a nearby Sikh temple, according to P. Krishnaprasad, a member of SKM’s coordination committee. He expects police to block the march.

Farmers and trade unions are also expected to hold demonstrations in other parts of India, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Their entry broadens a movement that has so far drawn much of its momentum from students, young people and opposition parties. The Samyukt Kisan Morcha had spearheaded the year-long agitation that pushed Modi to repeal contentious farm laws in 2021.

Security was noticeably lighter on Friday than during last week’s student-led protests, when authorities sealed off parts of central New Delhi with barricades and deployed riot police and paramilitary forces around government buildings and protest sites.

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Krishnaprasad said organizers haven’t sought police permission for Friday’s demonstrations, saying peaceful protest is a constitutional right.

“Wherever the police stop us, we will stand there, we will keep our demands there, we will make the announcement, we will sing our national anthem and then we will disperse,” he said. 

New Delhi has been hit by repeated protests over the election controversy in recent weeks. Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi was detained by police earlier this month as part of demonstrations against the poll body, while the arrests of student leaders Saurav Das and Ranka, who were later released, added to tensions.

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The furor was stoked by an Indian Express investigation last month that found Kumar’s two fellow commissioners repeatedly objected to aspects of a sweeping update of India’s electoral rolls that removed millions from draft voter lists. The poll body has denied any wrongdoing.