Delhi Election Accountability Protests Met with Massive Crackdown: 7,000 Detained, Leaders Arrested at Airport, India's Supreme Court Orders Restoration of Order

According to the BBC, India's 'Cockroach Janta Party' (CJP) launched a new round of election accountability protests in Delhi this weekend, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. BBC reporting shows that authorities took an unusually large-scale response—approximately 7,000 protesters were detained and released last Saturday, at least 45 metro stations were closed, internet service in the city center was disrupted, and police even boarded planes at the airport to arrest three leaders of the organization.

In actions on Saturday, police boarded planes at Delhi airport and immediately arrested CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke and two senior leaders, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, after their flights landed. Citing media reports, the BBC noted that approximately 7,000 protesters were detained and released on Saturday, with several hundred more detained on Sunday. The three leaders were released by a magistrate's court on Sunday morning, with the condition that they not disturb public order for one year.

To prevent protesters from reaching the designated protest site, Jantar Mantar, in New Delhi, at least 45 metro stations in Delhi were closed, major railway stations suspended operations, and multiple trains were cancelled. BBC reporters on the scene observed police forcibly removing protesters from trains en route to the demonstration site. Delhi's central business district, Connaught Place, was lined with yellow barricades, with shops, restaurants, and offices closed, leaving the entire area nearly emptied. The BBC described Connaught Place as 'row upon row of bright yellow police barricades, guarded by thousands of police and paramilitary personnel.' BBC reporters also witnessed numerous arrests—some protesters were pushed onto buses and driven away, with some shouting 'Gyanesh must step down' through bus windows, while others were chased, pinned down, and forcibly dragged away by police on the streets.

Internet service in central Delhi was disrupted throughout the day.

On Sunday, India's Supreme Court held a special hearing on service disruptions and detention complaints, ordering the government to restore internet service and ensure normal operation of metro and rail services—unless public order was disrupted. The court also required safeguarding freedom of movement and prohibiting illegal detention.

After his release, Dipke posted on social media platform X: 'Modi, as Prime Minister, is a disgrace to India.' He also said he would return home for his grandmother's funeral and vowed: 'CJP will neither retreat nor be intimidated.' At a press conference, Ranka said the conditions did not mean they could not protest. 'Peaceful protest is our constitutional right, and Jantar Mantar is the designated protest site, so this does not mean we cannot engage in peaceful protest,' he said, pointing responsibility for disrupting public order at the highest levels of government: 'It is Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar who are disturbing the peace.'

The core demand of the CJP protests is electoral reform. This year, India's Election Commission has conducted a large-scale voter roll update nationwide, having removed at least 130 million voters. The Election Commission says this is routine work aimed at removing deceased, duplicate, or ineligible voters. But the process has sparked controversy in several states, with tens of thousands claiming they were wrongly removed. The CJP and opposition parties accuse Kumar of favoring Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in updating electoral rolls. Both the Election Commission and the BJP have denied these allegations.

The CJP movement began in May of this year. Dipke previously worked for the opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and after completing his master's degree at Boston University in May, tweeted: 'What if all the cockroaches united?' Previously, India's Chief Justice Surya Kant had compared some unemployed youth to 'cockroaches.' Kant said his remarks were misinterpreted, but Dipke's post quickly spread, and the CJP movement was born. The movement held a five-week protest this summer around education reform, ultimately ending in July with the resignation of India's Education Minister.