New Delhi "War-Level" Deployment Encircles Election Protests; Opposition Leaders, Lawyers and Journalists Mass Detained

New Delhi police, ahead of a Saturday mass protest against electoral roll revisions, encircled the heart of the capital with what the opposition called a "war-level" security deployment, pre-detaining thousands of protesters, opposition leaders, lawyers and journalists.

According to Deutsche Welle, three founders of the opposition organisation "Cockroach Janta Party" — Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka — were taken into custody as soon as their plane landed, while crowds heading for the designated rally point at Jantar Mantar were intercepted at multiple checkpoints along the way. Citing ANI police sources, Deutsche Welle reported that roughly 200 people were detained at Connaught Place alone for attempting to reach Jantar Mantar; aggregated figures from Deutsche Welle's live coverage that day put the total number of detainees above 500.

Several leading Indian opposition figures were also detained, including former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, and former Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal. Kejriwal wrote on social media: "This is now official… we are living under absolute dictatorship." He described police arresting the Cockroach Janta Party leaders immediately after their plane landed as "unprecedented fear," and said the move was "worse than the Emergency" — the Emergency referring to the 21-month martial law imposed by Indira Gandhi's government in the mid-1970s. Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said: "India is no longer a democracy. It is a dictatorship run by Mr. Modi and Mr. Shah."

The protest targets Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and his push for a "special intensive revision" — which critics fear could strip millions of people of their voting rights and benefit the BJP led by Prime Minister Modi. The Election Commission has denied any wrongdoing, saying the move aims to remove duplicate and ineligible voters.

Among journalists, reporters from Indian outlets including Scroll and Newslaundry reported being detained by police, with some having their phones confiscated and facing assault allegations. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called on Delhi police to immediately release the journalists and return their equipment, and to investigate the abuse allegations. According to Deutsche Welle, the detained journalists were later released. In the 2026 Reporters Without Borders (RSF) World Press Freedom Index, India ranked 157th out of 180 countries, a drop of six places from 2025.

In the judicial system, the Supreme Court Bar Association of India passed a resolution condemning police use of "excessive force" and detention against lawyers engaged in "peaceful protests" outside the Supreme Court and within its offices, calling on Chief Justice Surya Kant to intervene urgently and to ascertain the whereabouts and safety of all detained lawyers — including several female lawyers.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor slammed the developments on social media: "A government confident in the fairness of its own elections welcomes questions; turning the capital into a fortress to evade them only deepens the distrust it seeks to suppress. Governments should give answers, not batons; they should speak, not silence." He criticised the suspension of internet services in parts of New Delhi as among the "most regressive" and "most oppressive" measures, and described the police deployment as "war-level."

The Cockroach Janta Party posted on social media a video pre-recorded by founder Dipke. In the video, Dipke said: "If you are watching this video, it means Ashutosh, Saurav and I have already been arrested. The movement will then be led by Ajinkya." The group subsequently announced that Ajinkya Shinde had taken over on-the-ground command, and accused police of taking the three leaders to an undisclosed location, denying them access to lawyers and cutting them off from the outside world. Citing ANI, Deutsche Welle reported that Dipke's grandmother died that same day in Maharashtra, and that police said they had informed him of the news; it remains unclear whether Dipke has been granted bail or permitted to attend the funeral.

A protester using the codename Jasmine described the early-morning scene to Deutsche Welle: "We have been playing cat and mouse with the police, trying to stop them from taking us away. I don't think we have ever seen anything like this before. Protesting is a basic right… the idea of having to apply to the government for permission to protest is absurd — you are protesting against a government; would you apply to that same government for permission? They won't give it to you."

BJP president Nitin Nabin accused opposition leaders of being directed by "foreign forces" and attempting to "destabilise India," but offered no evidence. In a statement, he warned that the BJP and "the patriotic citizens of this country" would deliver "a decisive and harsh response" to the opposition, and said the Indian government would "deal harshly" with opposition attempts to "inflame tensions." Whether the planned protest ultimately went ahead at Jantar Mantar, the release status of all those detained, and whether any formal charges have been filed remain to be tracked.