Security personnel run towards demonstrators to disperse them during a protest organised by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over alleged electoral roll irregularities, at Connaught Place, in New Delhi, Saturday, October 10. PTI
Delhi protests LIVE | Over 7,000 detained; CJP: Will march to Jantar Mantar again on Sunday
SC to hear special petition tomorrow on Delhi curbs; police go on detention spree to stop anti-CEC protests
Delhi turned into a veritable battle zone—as well as a prison zone for the Opposition—on Saturday (October 10), when several INDIA bloc leaders, including four former chief ministers—TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, CPM veteran Pinarayi Vijayan, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, and Manik Sarkar, were detained for trying to join the Cockroach Janta Party's (CJP) anti-CEC protest call at Jantar Mantar.
Apart from Mamata and Pinarayi, Delhi Police have detained over 7,000 people including CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, CJP's Ratna Singh, Sourav Das and many journalists and content creators.
Senior Left leaders like MP John Brittas and MA Baby, along with Pinarayi, were taken to Chhatrasal Stadium briefly before reportedly being driven around in a police jeep, Brittas alleged. They were later taken to Mandir Marg Police Station. Veteran Left leader Brinda Karat, CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, activist Yogendra Yadav and lawyer Prashant Bhushan were also among those detained.
Also read: Meet the faces of India’s Gen Z protest movement
Kejriwal was detained outside his Lodhi Estate residence while marching towards Jantar Mantar with AAP leaders and workers. The party leaders detained with him included Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh, Delhi unit chief Saurabh Bharadwaj, MLA Kuldeep Kumar and national media in-charge Anurag Dhanda. Senior AAP leader Gopal Rai was also detained while protesting at the party office.
Dipke detained from aircraft
Mamata and other TMC MPs were detained from South Avenue, while many journalists trying to cover the protests were allegedly detained along with the Opposition leaders. Tushar Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi's great-grandson, was reportedly detained in Mumbai.
Also read: ‘Undeclared Emergency’: Opposition leaders slam Modi govt over detentions in Delhi
Dipke's detention was dramatic. A Delhi Police team boarded the aircraft carrying him after it landed in Delhi and detained him. Dipke went live on Instagram as the officers entered the plane. The video shows the police team boarding the flight, and Dipke, along with fellow CJP members Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, being detained on board.
A defiant Dipke said CJP's Ajinkya Shinde would lead the Jantar Mantar protest, while AISA chief Neha Bora launched a protest in Dilli Haat along with other activists. Neha was alsod detained soon afterwards. After days of intense protests, Congress was missing in action as Rahul Gandhi left for Chennai for his prescheduled Chhatron ki Goonj event.
Jantar Mantar wears a deserted look
Jantar Mantar, a designated protest site, wore a deserted look throughout the day, with the deployment of over 30,000 security personnel and waves of barricades in Lutyens' Delhi to keep the protesters away from the area.
Opposition parties likened the situation to one worse than the Emergency, with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi urging the youth to "keep protesting" and asserting that "we are going to ensure that this regime and the people who have attacked the Constitution are defeated".
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge lashed out at the Modi government over the detentions by Delhi police, saying it has turned the "mother of democracy" into a "muzzled democracy". The Congress chief alleged that the cowardice of the BJP-RSS is on full display today.
The Congress, which has been holding protests demanding the resignation of the CEC over alleged vote theft, however, maintained its distance from the CJP protest.
CJP to march to Jantar Mantar again tomorrow
On Saturday evening, CJP said it was not "backing down" and announced that it will march to Jantar Mantar again tomorrow (October 11).
"The Modi government fears that if we unite again, their throne will be at stake. But we’re not backing down. We will march to Jantar Mantar again tomorrow and stay there until all our demands are met," CJP said.
Read live updates here.
Live Updates
- 10 Oct 2026 11:44 AM IST
Delhi Police detains over 60 protesters from Bangla Sahib Gurdwara
Delhi Police detained more than 60 people from Bangla Sahib Gurdwara on Saturday, where protesters had taken shelter overnight ahead of the planned Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) demonstration at Jantar Mantar.
Police personnel had stationed themselves outside the gurdwara and detained the protesters as they came out in the morning.
- 10 Oct 2026 11:40 AM IST
CJP leaders taken away in bus after detention \at Delhi Airport
Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke and co-convenors Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were taken away in a bus after being detained by Delhi Police at the airport on Saturday, reported India Today.
The three leaders had arrived in the national capital to join the party’s planned protest at Jantar Mantar demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation over alleged voter-list irregularities linked to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
Delhi Police denied permission for the demonstration and deployed thousands of police and paramilitary personnel across the capital. Authorities also restricted access at 45 Metro stations and suspended mobile internet services in parts of central Delhi ahead of the protest.
- 10 Oct 2026 11:35 AM IST
John Brittas: 'Police driving detained Kerala leaders around Delhi'
CPI(M) MP John Brittas on Saturday alleged that a police jeep carrying him, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Finance Minister K N Balagopal was driving around Delhi without taking them to any particular destination.
“The police jeep carrying me, Pinarayi and Balagopal is roaming the streets of Delhi, taking us nowhere in particular,” Brittas said.
He maintained that the three had neither participated in a violent protest nor violated Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).
“There were only three of us, while the order prohibits gatherings of more than four people,” he said.
Brittas criticised the police action, calling it a disregard for democratic principles.
“This is a complete disregard for democracy. Such actions will not help those in power,” the MP said.
- 10 Oct 2026 11:31 AM IST
Young lawyers marching from Supreme Court to Jantar Mantar detained
A large number of young lawyers marching from the Supreme Court to Jantar Mantar to join the protest have been detained by police.
- 10 Oct 2026 11:29 AM IST
Tushar Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi’s great-grandson, detained in Mumbai
Tushar Gandhi, great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, has been detained from his residence in Bombay.
- 10 Oct 2026 11:27 AM IST
CJP condemns detention of leaders, demands immediate release
The Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) has condemned the detention of its founder Abhijeet Dipke and co-convenors Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka by Delhi Police shortly after their flight landed in the national capital.
In a statement, the party described the detentions as authoritarian, alleging that the police action was planned to prevent its leaders from reaching Jantar Mantar for the scheduled protest, India Today reported.
The CJP accused the police of violating the leaders’ freedom of movement and called for their immediate and unconditional release.
- 10 Oct 2026 11:23 AM IST
Journalist Roshni Rajan alleges police manhandled her at CJP protest
Journalist Roshni Rajan has alleged that police personnel manhandled her and forcibly took her into a bus while she was covering the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) protest in Delhi.
Speaking to The Federal, Rajan said she and other journalists were filming the demonstration on their mobile phones to share visuals online when police personnel intervened.
“We were forcibly dragged into a bus despite repeatedly telling the police that we were journalists,” she said.
Rajan further alleged that police ignored their repeated attempts to identify themselves, even after they showed their press identity cards.
“They repeatedly asked, ‘What media? What media?’” she said, describing how officers questioned their presence at the protest site.
She also claimed she was dragged along the road and pushed around by police personnel.
“The entire experience was extremely distressing,” Rajan said.
- 10 Oct 2026 11:18 AM IST
Delhi Police confirms detention of CJP leaders at airport: Report
A senior police officer confirmed that Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke and co-convenors Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka have been detained in Delhi, reported the Hindustan Times.
Teams from the Southwest District Police were deployed at the airport to take the three leaders into custody.
The crackdown also extended to the protest site near Jantar Mantar, where protesters and independent media personnel were detained.
A police van was seen carrying several protesters, while paramilitary personnel blocked routes around the barricades, restricting movement in the area.
- 10 Oct 2026 11:11 AM IST
DMK chief MK Stalin slams Delhi crackdown, calls Gyanesh Kumar’s exit ‘non-negotiable’
DMK chief MK Stalin on Saturday condemned the crackdown on protesters in Delhi, comparing the scenes to the Emergency and demanding the immediate release of those detained across the country.
In a post on X, Stalin said the scale of action against peaceful demonstrators brought back painful memories of the Emergency.
He called for the release of detained political leaders, students and young protesters, while urging the Union government to stop what he described as an assault on young people exercising their democratic rights.
“Dissent is not a crime, and democracy cannot survive by silencing those who rise to defend it,” Stalin wrote.
He also criticised the TVK government in Tamil Nadu, accusing it of acting as an extension of the BJP and using police action against protesting students.
Stalin said the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar was “non-negotiable”. He also called for the restoration of the Election Commission’s independence and integrity.
- 10 Oct 2026 11:03 AM IST
CJP legal head Ratna Singh alleges police tried to detain her
Ratna Singh, legal head of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), alleged that police personnel arrived at her residence on Saturday morning to detain her, reported India Today.
Singh said those who visited her home were told she was not present. She claimed that when she asked the personnel to produce an official notification authorising her detention, they failed to provide any documents.
According to Singh, the personnel told her they had received instructions from senior officials to detain her.
