Delhi police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke and more than 2,000 protesters on Saturday, shutting metro stations and suspending internet to block a demonstration demanding the chief election commissioner's resignation.
Dipke was detained on 10 October 2026 ahead of the planned rally. Two other CJP leaders, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, were intercepted and detained upon landing at Delhi airport.
Why is the prime minister so scared of the country's youth, the country's people?
The police deployed thousands of officers and paramilitary personnel across Delhi. Mobile internet was suspended in the central business district, dozens of metro stations closed, and markets shut down. The protest site at Jantar Mantar was sealed off by security forces before the demonstration began.
The rally aimed to challenge the Election Commission's revision of voter lists. Critics allege Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has revised the lists in ways that disproportionately remove opposition voters and benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. The government and Election Commission deny the allegations.
Protesters accused the BJP of using voter list revisions to sway election results in collusion with Election Commission appointees including Kumar. The Indian Express reported last week that Kumar's deputies had queried and disagreed with him over the list revisions that affected about 130 million voters.
What we know
- About 130 million names have been deleted from voter lists during the verification exercise.
- The deletions comprise 63 million who relocated, 30 million who could not be traced, and 28 million marked as dead.
- The Election Commission says the count represents voter entries flagged during the draft revision stage and wrongly removed voters can enrol again.
Still unclear
- Political Disenfranchisement Allegations: While opposition parties and the CJP claim the voter roll purge was mathematically anomalous and structurally targeted minority and minority-aligned voting blocs to benefit the ruling party, the Election Commission and the BJP have completely denied all manipulation claims, stating that the revision process followed legal frameworks and that any wrongly removed eligible voter is permitted to re-enroll.
- Scope of the Internet Suspension: While massive security lockdowns, barricades, and heavy restrictions were instituted around central Delhi to deny protest permissions, the specific geographic footprint, duration, and exact extent of the metro closures and localized internet suspensions remain partially unverified in real-time updates.
CJP condemned what it called the authoritarian detention of its leaders, describing it as a pre-planned interception aimed at crippling the rally's leadership. The party demanded their immediate release.
Why did you need to close all the railways, the metro, the internet has been closed, roads have been closed? ... this is nothing but fear
The police operation extended beyond detention of protest leaders. YouTuber and influencer Dhruv Rathee, who had returned from Germany to join the youth protests, was taken into custody at his Gurugram home on Saturday morning. A police officer told local media that Rathee was held in custody after he refused to heed warnings about participating in the demonstration.
Ratna Singh, head of CJP's legal team, stated in a video that four lawyers including herself were detained. More than 25 police officers surrounded their car without explanation, she alleged. Representatives of two digital media outlets reported that police detained four of their reporters who were at the protest site. Officers also picked up some lawyers who were demonstrating outside the Supreme Court.
We are a democracy, yet peaceful protests are being crushed by force. Shouldn't we fight for our rights?
Delhi police said on Friday they had not given permission for the protest, citing a late permit request. The CJP proceeded with its plan anyway, asserting a fundamental right to demonstrate.
Small protests broke out elsewhere across the capital of 20 million people. Demonstrators gathered at a popular crafts market and at the memorial to Mahatma Gandhi, shouting slogans demanding Kumar's resignation. Some protesters broke through police cordons, chanting against Modi and election authorities before being detained.
- Last weekIndian Express report The newspaper reports that Kumar's deputies queried and disagreed with him over voter list revisions affecting 130 million voters.
- Days before 10 OctoberEscalating protests Opposition politicians step up campaign; Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi is briefly detained by police.
- 10 October 2026Mass crackdown Police deploy thousands of personnel, close metro stations, suspend internet, and detain Dipke, other leaders, lawyers, journalists and influencers.
The demonstration reflected mounting political tension in India. Near daily protests by opposition groups pose a new challenge to Modi just months after similar demonstrations led to the resignation of his education minister over exam paper leaks. The rallies occur months before a series of key state elections beginning in early 2027.
SCMP
- More than 2,000 protesters detained
Other outlets
- Hundreds or scores of protesters and leaders detained
Police have not commented on the detentions. The Election Commission and Modi government have not responded to the Saturday crackdown. Protesters have called for further demonstrations, with state elections expected to begin in early 2027.
