Delhi Becomes Battleground as Protesters & Police Clash

October

2026

Protests in Central Delhi continue almost daily demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and rollback of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) as Delhi police and paramilitary forces continue to detain students, journalists, and lawyers. On 16 Oct, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) called for a gathering at the Central Park in Connaught circle for a Tiranga March (Indian Tricolor Flag March). In response, the New Delhi Municipal Council shut down the park for two days and cordoned it off. 220 companies of paramilitary forces and Delhi police were deployed on site. CJP’s Abhijeet Dipke and All India Students' Association (AISA) president Neha Bora were detained before reaching the location along with 150 others. Neither was allowed to contact lawyers until late into the night. Bora was released from detention the following morning. She refused to sign the bond that restricted her right to protest. Dipke walked free on conditional bail. For over a decade, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP) union government had crushed dissent and arrested students. The union government is now cracking down heavily on social media platforms, deleting posts of mostly Gen Z journalists’ reporting from the ground and blocking their social media handles. In Chandigarh, around 50 protesters from AISA All India Students’ Association), Panjab Students Union (PSU) Lalkaar, Sath, and Students for Society (SFS) protested in support of the CJP’s call. They marched from the Panjab University Student Centre to the Election Commission office in Sector 17 seeking the CEC’s resignation. Indian Youth Congress activist Gurmehar Kaur, from Jalandhar, has emerged as a prominent face in the protests. In Panjab, BJP leaders fear that images of young protesters being pushed, injured, and detained by Delhi Police, widely circulated on social media, could hurt the party’s prospects in the upcoming elections. A former BJP Jalandhar office-bearer, speaking anonymously, admitted, ‘We had been quite upbeat over the past few months…following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two visits to Jalandhar. Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s rally was also expected to strengthen the party. But the Delhi episode has cast a shadow over these major activities.’ The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Indian National Congress, meanwhile, are attempting to capitalize on the developments (earlier coverage).