Hundreds of protesters, including Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas and All India Students’ Association (AISA) president Neha Bora, were detained as sporadic protests against the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar continued across Delhi for the second consecutive day on Sunday (October 11, 2026) amid heavy security deployment and barricading across central Delhi to prevent protesters from reaching Jantar Mantar.
With shops in Connaught Place reopening after 24 hours and metro services resuming at stations shut on Saturday (October 10, 2026), normalcy returned in the morning. Shoppers trickled into the market, but the relative calm was disrupted as student organisations and other groups attempted to march through the commercial hub, only to be detained by the police. The heavy deployment of police personnel and barricades at key junctions appeared to make visitors hesitant to venture further into the area, as people walked past rows of shops but paused to assess the security arrangements.
The protests, called by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), continued despite restrictions on gatherings and movement in New Delhi. With demonstrators unable to assemble at Jantar Mantar, several groups attempted to mobilise at different locations across the city and the Outer Circle of Connaught Place became the epicentre.
Representatives of student and youth organisations, including the All India Students’ Federation (AISF), the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and the Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS), attempted to take out a march in the morning.
Protesters hold an All India Students' Federation (AISF) flag during a protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar at Connaught Place, in New Delhi on Sunday, October 11, 2026 | Photo Credit: ANI
Around noon, 60 to 70 protesters began marching from Gate 1 of Rajiv Chowk Metro station towards Gate 6 of Palika Bazaar with banners and placards, and raising slogans of “vote chor, gaddi chhod (vote thieves, leave the chair)”. They demanded the rollback of the SIR exercise and the resignation of Mr. Kumar.
The police and the Rapid Action Force (RAF) detained the protesters, and tense scenes unfolded as several demonstrators lay on the road, refusing to leave. Police personnel forcibly lifted some of them and shoved them into a bus. Some protesters sustained injuries and a man was seen bleeding from his forehead.
By 12.30 p.m., barricades had been erected and access to Janpath Road was cut off, further restricting movement through the area.
Around two hours later, a few AISA representatives gathered near Ramakrishna Ashram Marg Metro station and attempted to march towards Connaught Place. The police quickly moved in to stop them, and the ensuing chase halted traffic.
Neha Bora and supporters take part in a protest march from R.K. Ashram Metro Station in New Delhi on October 11, 2026. | Photo Credit: Shashi Shekhar Kashyap
Police personnel, Central Reserve Police Force personnel and RAF members converged on the junction and detained protesters. Journalists covering the demonstrations were also rounded up. Neha Bora and other AISA representatives managed to cross a barricade and run towards Panchkuian Road before being intercepted and detained by a large contingent of police personnel.
Around 4 p.m., nearly 350 people associated with the Revolutionary Workers’ Party of India, Disha Students’ Organisation, Naujawan Bharat Sabha and Stree Mukti League began a rally from Connaught Place’s outer circle. The protesters moved along the inner circle before being picked up by the police near the Pind Balluchi square.
Later in the evening, women activists of the SFI were detained after 6 p.m. while taking out a ‘Tiranga Yatra’.
Protesters return
Several protesters said they returned on Sunday (October 11) because they did not want to abandon the cause, even though they were unable to reach Jantar Mantar.
“I was here yesterday, but the police did not allow me to cross even the first barricade, so I had to stand outside the entire day. Today, they at least let me till here. I will come tomorrow, I do not want to give up,” said a protester who had travelled from Mumbai.
Sarthak Mishra, a student at Central University of Haryana and who hails from Jharkhand, arrived in Delhi on Saturday night. “I had an exam on Saturday, which is why I missed yesterday, but I made sure I am here today. But no one else has arrived and the protest is not happening,” he said.
Questioning the scale of the security deployment, Mr. Mishra said the protesters were ordinary citizens who had come to raise concerns about voting rights. “We are unarmed normal civilians and the police are having the most dangerous weapons, batons for us. Is this needed for us? This is for terrorists, murderers or rapists and not for commoners like us,” he said.
“If the government is taking away our basic right to vote, it is a waste to call ourselves a democratic country,” he added.
Fanning out
As police action continued in central Delhi, KYS organised demonstrations outside the Supreme Court and on the Yamuna River, saying its activists were being prevented from protesting.
Several KYS activists staged a protest outside the Supreme Court against alleged police brutality. Minutes later, the participants, mostly women, were dragged away.
In a separate demonstration, KYS activists took boats and protested on the Yamuna, describing the river as the “new Jantar Mantar”. The organisation said it would continue its mobilisation against the CEC and the Election Commission.
Meanwhile, some detainees were allegedly taken to a community centre in Pandwalan Khurd, around 40 km from Connaught Place, and left there without adequate medical assistance or transport.
Lawyer Disha Verma alleged that peaceful protesters detained in Connaught Place were taken to a location near the LIC office, where police personnel made them kneel in a row, frisked them and took away their phones after deleting photographs and videos. Some detainees were subsequently moved in buses with cramped compartments and inadequate ventilation and were allegedly beaten severely, she claimed. According to Ms. Verma, the bus travelled through the Kapashera and Najafgarh areas before reaching Pandwalan Khurd around 7.30 p.m., with the detainees taken into a community centre by 8 p.m. She alleged that several detainees had sustained serious injuries, four minors were among them, and lawyers were prevented from entering the premises. She also claimed that a crowd had gathered outside the centre, leaving the detainees vulnerable.