New Delhi/Mumbai: It was a day of protests on Gandhi Jayanti demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar as opposition parties and student organisations took to the streets in Delhi while hundreds of people gathered at Mumbai’s Shivaji Park at the call of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) with more than 700 protesters detained in the national capital.
The protests were part of a wider mobilisation by political parties, student organisations and youth groups demanding Kumar’s resignation and raising concerns over the electoral roll revision exercise.
Protests were also held in several other parts of the country, including Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Patna.
AAP leaders Atishi, Sanjay Singh, Saurabh Bharadwaj and Sanjeev Jha, CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby and veteran party leader Brinda Karat, CPI national secretary P Sandosh Kumar, RJD leader Manoj Jha, social activist Yogendra Yadav, AISA president Neha Bora, DYFI president and Rajya Sabha member A A Rahim and former Jawaharlal Nehru Students’ Union president Aishe Ghosh were among those detained by Delhi Police at Jantar Mantar and surrounding areas.
Opposition parties and activists denounced the government for the detentions, saying this is all ‘Godse-vadi’ people can do on Gandhi Jayanti and they don’t understand the essence of Gandhi.
In Mumbai, CJP leader Abhijeet Dipke led the protests and activists from SFI and AISF were also present, so were veteran actors Shabana Azmi and Naseeruddin Shah and singer Vishal Dadlani.
Activist Tushar Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi’s great-grandson, was also present.
In Delhi, at several points like Feroz Shah road and Ashoka road, protesters tried to cross barricades as police personnel prevented them from proceeding towards the designated protest site Jantar Mantar.
Amid the protests, internet services were suspended in central Delhi, while entry and exit gates at 12 Metro stations were closed during the day as part of security arrangements. These included major stations such as Rajiv Chowk, Central Secretariat and Janpath.
The area around Jantar Mantar and roads leading to it witnessed chaotic scenes as protesters attempted to make their way through the barricades. Police personnel repeatedly made public announcements asking people not to gather at Jantar Mantar, saying no gathering had been permitted there.
Protesters raised slogans against Kumar, including “Ek kachori, do samosa, Gyanesh tumhara kya bharosa” and “Gali-gali mein shor hai, Modi-Gyanesh vote chor hai”. They also carried placards bearing Kumar’s face with messages such as “Resign Do”.
Indian Youth Congress protesters marched from the IYC office on Raisina Road towards Jantar Mantar, wearing masks bearing the faces of Kumar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and carrying posters and banners demanding accountability from the poll panel.
Several NSUI activists, including its national president Vinod Jakhar, also took part in the protest and were detained from the protest site. Jakhar was detained during a foot march from the organisation’s office towards Jantar Mantar.
Around 700 people were detained from Jantar Mantar and nearby areas, including AAP leaders and members of AISA, SFI, NSUI and other student organisations, according to police.
A police source said around 700 SFI members trying to reach Jantar Mantar around 11 am were stopped at the Ashoka Road roundabout, with many of them detained.
AAP leader Bharadwaj said protesting was a constitutional right and questioned the need for permission to demonstrate at Jantar Mantar, which is a designated protest site.
He said the party had submitted letters seeking permission for the protest around six days earlier and claimed that the police had not taken any decision on it.
While police and security forces were deployed in the central Mumbai area in large numbers and entry routes from the nearby Dadar railway station were barricaded, protesters managed to reach Shivaji Park, famous for landmark political rallies.
They carried the tricolour and placards with messages such as “Gyanu, Tujha Democracy Var Bharosa Nay Kay?” (Gyanesh, don’t you trust democracy), “Gyanesh BRO, JUST RESIGN” and “Gaddaar Gyaanu Must Go”.
Addressing the protesters, Dipke said the central government was so “incompetent” that they had to launch another protest within two months of the Jantar Mantar agitation over the NEET leak issue.
He also dared Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to send the protesters to jail.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), which enjoy significant support in the Dadar area, extended support to the CJP’s agitation.
Police officials said they were closely monitoring the situation to maintain law and order and ensure that traffic remains unaffected.
The CJP has demanded transparency in the appointment of the CEC and called for freezing of the 2025 voter list, saying it should not be “tampered with further”.
The CJP announced its protest demanding CEC Kumar’s resignation after recent media reports claimed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had recorded objections on at least 14 occasions over 10 months to decisions and orders related to the Special Intensive Revision of the electoral rolls, some of which they said were issued without their knowledge.
The Election Commission later clarified that the three-member commission took all decisions, including those relating to the SIR, unanimously.
