Students, activists and citizens join ‘Lehra Do Tiranga’ march in Connaught Place

As the protests seeking the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar entered the seventh consecutive day on Friday (October 16, 2026), several groups of protesters and activists holding national flags started converging near the Central Park in Connaught Place as early as 3 p.m., two hours before the scheduled ‘Lehra Do Tiranga’ (wave the tricolour) march announced by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and other Left students’ organisations.

The crowd swelled through the evening as more protesters, activists, and student groups joined the march with national flags.

CJP Tiranga protest updates - October 16, 2026

Meanwhile, the roads leading to Central Park saw heavy police deployment. Around 10,000 personnel from the Delhi Police, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Rapid Action Force (RAF) were deployed in Connaught Place for security, as per a Delhi Police official.

Police began detaining people in Connaught Place only after 7.30 p.m. A senior Delhi Police claimed they were refraining from detaining protesters as they were using the national flag as their shield.

While Central Park remained out of reach with the premises blocked, several youth organisations, including All India Students’ Federation (AISF), Students’ Federation of India (SFI), Democratic Youth Federation of India (DIYF), All India Youth Federation (AIYF) and Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS) carried out marches in and around Connaught Place, with several groups converging and reciting the national anthem near Palika Bazar gates 1 and 2.

MP John Brittas along with MP A.A. Rahim led a march from the SFI community centre on Firoz Shah Road to outside Central Park carrying Tiranga. Marching through CP, the group joined by over 100 protesters, raising slogans demanding rollback of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Mr. Brittas told The Hindu, “They think by closing down places they can oppress and suppress protest. They can shut parks and Jantar Mantar protest site, but it is all symbol of the protests happening around the country now. Jantar Mantar is everywhere.”

Meanwhile, the AISA led a march from Mandi House circle, its president Neha Bora was detained shortly after. Over a dozen AISA protesters marched through to reach CP with Tiranga.

People join with flags

Many common people also travelled from different places to join the protest with national flags.

“The Delhi government or any other institution cannot steal our freedom away from us. I am not committing a crime by waving a national flag in Delhi. If this is a crime, the police can arrest me. The CJP may have given the call for Tiranga March but I am here to protest against the cruelty and dictatorship of the government,” said Udit, a software engineer and resident of Ghaziabad.

Kajal and Naina, in their 20s, travelled from Kanpur to join the march in Delhi. “What is the fear of waving our national flag. For waving our national flag, even if we are detained 100 times, we will happily get detained,” Ms. Kajal said.

“We demand the resignation of Gyanesh Kumar. The Modi government is trying so hard to protect him. The entire city was shut down on October 10, that is how scared the government is,” she said.

R.K. Sharma, 59, said India needed a Chief Election Commissioner like T.N. Seshan. He said, “We need an impartial Chief Election Commissioner like Seshan. He worked for the country and not any political party. He enforced and penalised political parties, introduced photo electoral rolls. Public needs the trust back.” Mr. Sharma, who voted for the BJP in 2014 and 2019, said, “I don’t believe any party should stay in power for more than 10 years. The BJP is setting wrong precedent. If we don’t demand change now, future political parties can also misuse the electoral system in their favour.”

‘Constitutional right’

On Friday, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) took out a march with a “270-foot-long” tricolour from North Avenue to near the Rashtrapati Bhavan in central Delhi. Around 5.30 p.m., the AAP took out a second march from the party headquarters in central Delhi towards Connaught Place, but was stopped about 500 metres away by heavy deployment of security forces.

AAP Delhi vice-president and MLA Kuldeep Kumar said unfurling the Tricolour was their constitutional right. “We want to tell the Modi government that when the British stopped people from unfurling the tricolour, the British had to leave,” he said. None of the main leaders was detained in both the marches.

Meanwhile, Delhi BJP president Harsh Malhotra commended the Delhi Police for “successfully” dealing with the alleged attempt by CJP, its “foreign” sponsors and almost the entire Opposition to create “anarchy” in Connaught Place in the name of hoisting the tricolour. “Only a negligible number of youths reached Connaught Place today, resulting in the collapse of the CJP’s anti-government illusion,” he said.