India deployed tens of thousands of police and paramilitary personnel in central Delhi and restricted transport across the capital on Saturday, ahead of a youth-led rally demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Police have not authorised the protest at Jantar Mantar, the site in central Delhi that authorities usually designate for demonstrations, and multiple layers of metal barricades block the roads leading to it.
The rally was called by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), a youth movement that began online as political satire in May after Chief Justice Surya Kant called unemployed young people "cockroaches". Other Left organisations have joined the call. Delhi Police said the request to hold the rally came too late, since rules require applications at least 10 days in advance, and that the CJP had breached undertakings given during earlier protests. The CJP says it merely informed police and obtained an acknowledgement for its letter. Police have warned of a forceful response to any violation of the ban.
The security measures are extensive. Fifty-seven metro stations were closed from Friday night, dozens of trains to the capital were cancelled, markets were shut, traffic diversions were set up at 30 key points, and mobile internet was suspended within 4km of the protest area. The Home Ministry told all states and territories to take preventive steps to stop protesters travelling to Delhi. On Friday the Supreme Court said some trains must still run and that a blanket closure of metro stations was unlikely; a contempt petition has since been filed over the continued shutdown.
Detentions began before the rally. Police said they held at least 100 people with criminal records in overnight operations. On Saturday, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke and colleagues Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were detained after landing at Delhi airport. YouTuber Dhruv Rathee was reportedly detained in Gurugram, and Kerala's former chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the Left leader Brinda Karat were also held. Buses carrying detained protesters left central Delhi. The CJP says at least 10,000 people have been detained nationwide, while police have not responded to that broader claim. Police expected about 7,000 protesters and told officers to show restraint.
"The dictator would rather shut down the entire national capital... than allow a peaceful protest," Dipke said on X before his detention. Student leader Neha Bora said: "You can detain the people, you cannot detain the movement."
The protests centre on a revision of voter lists that has removed more than 130 million names from draft rolls. The Election Commission says it removes duplicate, deceased and ineligible voters and prevents "foreign illegal immigrants" from voting. Critics say it disproportionately affects marginalised and minority communities and favours Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Unrest grew after the Indian Express reported that Kumar's two deputies had raised concerns at least 14 times in 10 months. The Election Commission and the BJP deny wrongdoing. The rally comes months before state elections in early 2027, including in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state.