More than 1,500 people were reportedly detained as Delhi witnessed a massive security deployment, Metro restrictions and transport disruptions during Saturday’s protest. Opposition leaders have condemned the crackdown and vowed to continue their agitation over alleged electoral irregularities and the SIR exercise.
BY PC Bureau
New Delhi, October 11, 2026: The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and the Congress-led INDIA bloc have vowed to intensify their campaign against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the Election Commission, refusing to retreat despite Saturday’s sweeping police crackdown in Delhi. While the CJP has announced daily marches to Jantar Mantar, the opposition alliance is preparing a major demonstration on Monday, alongside a planned meeting with Chief Justice of India Surya Kant.
The twin campaigns signal a potentially prolonged confrontation over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, allegations of “vote chori” and the legal protections granted to election commissioners. Opposition leaders have made Kumar’s removal a central demand, while the BJP insists that electoral disputes must be addressed through constitutional and parliamentary processes rather than street protests.
CJP leader Ajinkya Shinde, appointed by Abhijeet Dipke to lead the protest in his absence, declared that marches to Jantar Mantar would take place every day until Gyanesh Kumar is removed as Chief Election Commissioner.
Chalo Jantar Mantar!
— Cockroach Janta Party – CJP (@Cockroachisback) October 10, 2026
Srijan Bhattacharyya, General Secretary of the Student Federation of India (SFI), urged the “broadest possible unity against this dictatorial regime,” directing his criticism at Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said student protests would begin spreading across the country from Sunday, with participants demonstrating peacefully wherever they gather. “Wherever they are blocked by police barricades,” he added, “that area will become a ‘Jantar Mantar.’”
The CJP’s strategy is to sustain pressure through repeated demonstrations, while the INDIA bloc is seeking to combine street mobilisation with a direct appeal to constitutional authorities.
INDIA Bloc Takes Fight to Chief Justice
We appeal to every Indian concerned about the survival of Indian democracy to join us in a massive protest march in Delhi on Monday – against the nationwide Vote Chori orchestrated by the Modi-Shah regime.
Yesterday, we held a comprehensive meeting with various leaders to prepare for this march.
INDIA MPs, leaders, workers and all concerned citizens will be holding a huge protest march against Gyanesh & Co, and a delegation of our senior leaders will submit a memorandum to the Hon’ble CJI for his intervention in this crisis.
Gyanesh must go. There will be no backing down.
— K C Venugopal (@kcvenugopalmp) October 10, 2026
The Congress on Saturday declared that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar “must go” and that the party would not back down on the demand. It issued a strong appeal to other parties in the Opposition INDIA bloc and to “all concerned citizens” to join its protest march in Delhi on Monday.
Congress leader KC Venugopal said, “We appeal to every Indian concerned about the survival of Indian democracy to join us in a massive protest march in Delhi on Monday against the nationwide vote chori orchestrated by the Modi-Shah regime. Yesterday, we held a comprehensive meeting with various leaders to prepare for this march. INDIA MPs, leaders, workers and all concerned citizens will hold a huge protest march against Gyanesh & Co., and a delegation of our senior leaders will submit a memorandum to the Hon’ble CJI for his intervention in this crisis.”
He added, “Gyanesh must go. There will be no backing down.”
Rahul’s Defiant Message; Kejriwal and Mamata Escalate Attack
From Chennai, where he was attending a student outreach programme, Rahul Gandhi posted a defiant message on X.
“Arrest all the leaders. Arrest all the young people. Arrest us all. We are surrounding you, and we are not going to back down,” he said, adding that he was proud of the country’s youth and urging them to keep protesting.
Before his detention, Kejriwal had similarly urged demonstrators to sit wherever police stopped them and turn that location into Jantar Mantar.
Banerjee described the situation as having gone “beyond an Emergency”, calling it a “Super Emergency”. Her remark reflected the opposition’s attempt to portray the restrictions not as an isolated law-and-order operation but as part of a wider assault on democratic dissent.
The government, however, has rejected that characterisation.
READ: ‘Mogambo Modi Is Destroying Democracy,’ Charges Rahul Gandhi
BJP Defends Election Commission
BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad defended Kumar and the SIR process, arguing that Indian democracy had “thwarted attempts to incite anarchy”. He asserted that the country would be governed by Parliament, not by street protests.
The response captures the fundamental divide in the confrontation. The opposition argues that street mobilisation is necessary to challenge alleged failures of electoral accountability; the BJP maintains that democratic institutions and elected legislatures, rather than demonstrations, must resolve such disputes.
The immediate question is whether the opposition can sustain its mobilisation beyond a single day of mass detentions. The CJP’s proposed daily marches and the INDIA bloc’s Monday demonstration could broaden the agitation, particularly if student organisations join in across states.
The proposed meeting with the Chief Justice may open another avenue, although any judicial intervention would depend on the issues properly brought before the court and the relief sought. A meeting or memorandum, by itself, would not amount to judicial approval of the opposition’s claims.
For now, neither side appears ready to compromise. The opposition is pressing for Kumar’s removal and a halt to the SIR exercise; the government is defending the Election Commission and insisting that electoral disputes be settled through established constitutional channels.
The crackdown may have cleared the streets for a day. Whether it can contain a political movement determined to return every day is the larger test now facing the government.
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