Published Oct 10, 2026 | 10:06 AM ⚊ Updated Oct 10, 2026 | 10:50 AM
Police forcibly detained students travelling from Pune to Delhi to participate in the protests demanding resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gy
Hours before anyone reached Jantar Mantar on Saturday, October 10, Fortress Delhi was already under its biggest lockdown since COVID.
More than 26,000 boots were on the ground, and everywhere you looked, you saw a sea of barricades. Delhi Police are said to have readied 12 detention centres for protesters who may be detained.
Protesters are being arrested even from trains. Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan had already asked police chiefs across all states and Union Territories to coordinate with Delhi Police. Among those picked up early was YouTuber Dhruv Rathee.
With more than 1,000 people already detained overnight in Delhi, Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke took to X to say, “Modi has accepted defeat even before our protest has begun.”
The protest, called by the CJP and backed by Left student groups, trade unions and others, demands the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Police were deployed across New Delhi from early morning. Barricades came up in student neighbourhoods, including Vijay Nagar near Delhi University and Jamia Nagar near Jamia Millia Islamia, and personnel were posted outside all major residential campuses. At Jawaharlal Nehru University, barricades were installed around midnight, and students came out and staged a protest on the spot.
Forty-five metro stations were shut, and the internet was suspended. Some runways at the airport were also closed, with authorities monitoring arrivals.
Several CPI(M) central committee members staying at Kerala House, on the same road as Jantar Mantar, attempted to march to the protest site.
The former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was among the leaders. Many who were with him, including CPM General Secretary MA Baby, were detained by police.
Pinarayi, John Brittas and former Kerala finance minister KN Balagopal alone marched ahead after a standoff with the cops. The trio raised slogans of “Down, down, police raj. Down, down fascism.”
“Gyanesh Kumar step down. See Amit Shah we are heading to Jantar Mantar,” they said, approaching the barricades blocking Jantar Mantar from Kerala House.
“This is a murder of democracy,” Pinarayi told reporters. “What is this? Why is the government doing all this? Is this a democracy or a police state? There must be respect for democracy. Gyanesh Kumar must resign. Democracy must be restored. All supporters of democracy will unite behind this, and this protest will only grow.”
“A gathering of more than four people is not allowed,” a Delhi Police officer told CPM’s Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas, when he tried to argue that there were only three of them.
“Please, sir. Hear me. Any type of march is not allowed. If you are participating in any type of march, that is a problem,” the officer went on to say, before detaining Pinarayi, Brittas and Balagopal.
CPM leaders Brinda Karat, KK Shailaja and women leaders were also detained.
The CJP had held back through the morning.
Sources had said it would wait for its key leaders, Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, whose flight landed in Delhi at around 10.45 am. The police entered the plane to take them into preventive custody on arrival.
Sources indicated the CJP had aimed to gather near Jantar Mantar around 11.30 am.
On the ground, the shutdown had cut its cadre off. A CJP zonal coordinator told South First they had received no message so far and were waiting for a call. With the internet down, they were unsure how to reach the venue.
More leaders are set to join later in the day.
AAP founder Arvind Kejriwal is also coming with his family.
Trade unions, women’s organisations and kisan organisations said they would join the protests as well.
The SFI and DYFI gathered their student and youth cadre at two offices, AKG Bhawan and HKS Bhawan.
Sources in other Left organisations, including the AISF, said they would also head there, stage an agitation and face possible detention. A smaller group, mainly student leaders, planned to move towards Jantar Mantar to join the CJP protest.
AISA and a few other organisations had members inside Gurdwara Bangla Sahib, close to Jantar Mantar. They were expected to come out around 11 am and were likely to be detained immediately, as police had stationed a large force and more than 45 buses there.
By mid-morning, further detentions seem likely before any gathering can take shape, and the organisations are moving without communication between them.
Student areas were effectively sealed, and there was fear and panic on the ground.
Also Read:
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SIR ji, no more! A country of 13 crore ‘living dead’ has found its voice
Indira Gandhi, Narendra Modi and the march of folly: The same mistake, fifty years apart
(Edited by R Rajesh Kumar.)
