India's opposition petitions Supreme Court demanding election commissioner resign; Delhi police same day remove Jantar Mantar protest site designation

New Delhi, India — The opposition alliance INDIA led by Rahul Gandhi petitioned the Supreme Court on October 12 demanding that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resign for allegedly acting arbitrarily in voter roll revisions and causing mass voter deletions. The same day, Delhi police announced the removal of "designated protest site" status from the iconic protest venue Jantar Mantar, juxtaposing the questioning facing the electoral body with the simultaneous contraction of public assembly space.

According to Deutsche Welle reports, Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, and several other opposition leaders including Sougata Roy and Tejashwi Prasad Yadav departed by bus from the Constitution Club that afternoon, heading to Barakhamba Road in New Delhi before proceeding to the Supreme Court. According to the Hindustan Times, the Supreme Court administration permitted five to ten opposition leaders to enter the court with lawyers to submit the pleading.

The Congress party had previously sought a meeting with Chief Justice Surya Kant, but Deutsche Welle citing Indian media reports said that Kant declined on the grounds that related matters were already being heard in the Supreme Court. Gandhi issued a "Chalo Dilli" (March on Delhi) call on the X platform and characterized the action as a "march for democracy" and a "march for justice."

The police decision to remove Jantar Mantar's designated site status follows a harshly suppressed protest on October 10. According to Deutsche Welle citing local media reports, more than 30,000 security personnel were deployed in Delhi that day, and the internet was cut within a four-kilometer radius around Jantar Mantar. Police cited Article 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita regarding the prohibition of unauthorized public assemblies, blocking roads with buses in areas such as Connaught Place and Safdarjung, forcibly dragging protesters into vehicles for detention, with lawyers and journalists also among those detained.

The youth protest group "Cockroach Party of India" (CJP) has continuously launched youth-led protests at Jantar Mantar since June this year. The group's leader posted on the X platform: "Jantar Mantar belongs to the people of India. Has the Home Ministry consulted the people of India? Has it consulted any stakeholders? Has it consulted any organizations? We do not accept this arbitrary decision." The group has demanded that police provide a new protest date within 24 hours, or it will issue another protest call.

The three alternative protest sites listed by police are Ramlila Ground in the Central district, Burari Ground in the North district, and Central Business District Ground in the East district. Regarding the specific circumstances of mass voter deletions, independent source verification has not been confirmed in publicly available materials; the exact number of protesters, lawyers and journalists detained in the October 10 action has also not been disclosed; whether the removal of Jantar Mantar's designated protest site status applies only to this action, the original report similarly did not clarify.