Protests Against CEC Intensify as Delhi Remains Fortified

October

2026

Protests in New Delhi against the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation and rollback of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), which disenfranchised 134M across 30 states and union territories, intensified after Delhi police (which is under the control of Indian Ministry of Home Affairs) imposed Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, ‘prohibiting gatherings of four or more’ in central Delhi since 2 Oct, and began illegally detaining protestors, journalists, Opposition leaders, and lawyers. To many, the situation in Delhi today is a reminder of 1975, when the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared Emergency, curbing media persons, arresting Opposition leaders, and civilians. On 10 Oct, on a call given by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and other student unions in Delhi such as the All India Students' Association led by Neha Bora, Students' Federation of India led by Aisha Ghosh, and Krantikari Yuva Sangathan led by Mudita Kushwaha, mostly Gen Z protestors gathered in large numbers in Delhi. Despite unconstitutional restrictions like sealing of Delhi borders, cancellation of trains between 04:00–14:00 hrs on 10 Oct, placing CJP and other student leaders, journalists and media personalities like Dhruv Rathee under house arrest, many students from across the country, including Panjab, reached Delhi to protest. Farmers from Uttar Pradesh and Haryana were also stopped at Delhi borders. Throughout the day, especially women protestors were assaulted by police personnel, while independent journalists were unconstitutionally detained and stopped from doing their work. Most notably, there was a huge presence of right-wing Hindu organization goons around the Connaught Place area who were abusing journalists, assaulting protestors, and creating scenes with the patronage of Delhi Police. The police neither arrested them nor asked them to stop. Since 2 Oct, Delhi has witnessed protests every day despite the restrictions curbing free movement through the presence of 40K police and paramilitary forces, more than 35K barricades, illegal blocking of 45 metro stations, and most notably the unconstitutional blocking of designated protest site Jantar Mantar, which was denotified as a protest site on 12 Oct. On the same day, at a call given by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, INDIA bloc leaders, including Mamata Banerjee and Akhilesh Yadav, joined by student leaders Bora and Kushwaha, protestors, journalists, and lawyers in hundreds of thousands flooded the streets and marched to the Supreme Court of India to file a petition against the CEC. Meanwhile, in Panjab, the voter list has shrunk by 6.3% post SIR, leaving 20.10M eligible to vote (earlier coverage).