Protests called by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) continued in central Delhi on Sunday, October 11, 2026, with demonstrators demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged electoral irregularities, according to The Hindu.
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, along with Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das, was released earlier in the day after being held for close to 24 hours. A Delhi Executive Magistrate Court ordered their release, Live Law reported.
Dipke said the movement would not be deterred. "The CJP will neither back down nor be intimidated," he wrote in a post, adding that October 10 would be remembered as the start of the end of what he called a dictatorship. He also said he would travel back to his village in Maharashtra following the death of his grandmother. Ranka and Das were expected to hold a press conference, he said.
The release came with conditions. The three leaders were freed on the condition that there be no breach of peace for a year, according to The Hindu.
Why it matters
The detentions and the scale of the weekend's protests have turned a demand over election administration into a broader confrontation involving opposition parties, student groups, the courts, and international human rights bodies. The CJP, a relatively new political outfit, has drawn crowds that Delhi Police sources put in the thousands, while the Congress and the wider INDIA bloc have signaled they intend to escalate with a march on October 12. The Supreme Court's intervention on Sunday added a legal dimension, with the court directing authorities to avoid illegal detentions and to allow peaceful assembly outside areas where prohibitory orders are in force.
Detentions, court directions, and a second day of protest
Delhi Police sources said nearly 2,500 protesters were detained across the capital on Saturday, October 10, in addition to roughly 1,000 people picked up in preventive operations overnight before the protest day, The Hindu reported.
On Sunday, several members of Left student groups were detained as they attempted to hold a protest march in central Delhi. Around 50 to 60 representatives from groups including AISF, SFI, and KYS marched from Gate 1 of Rajiv Chowk metro station toward Radial Road 1 Janpath before police detained them, according to The Hindu.
The Supreme Court held a special hearing on Sunday. It directed authorities to ensure free and smooth movement of people in Delhi, subject to the requirements of law and public order. The court also said there must be no illegal detentions except through procedure established by law, particularly for people taking part in peaceful, unarmed assemblies outside areas where prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) are in force.
Barricades were placed on Mathura Road toward the Supreme Court and Ashram, and were also seen near Lajpat Nagar metro station, with banners announcing the imposition of Section 163 BNSS, The Hindu reported.
The Office of the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner said it was concerned by reports of mass detentions at the Delhi protests. The government rejected that statement, according to The Hindu.
Arrests over assault, and opposition plans for October 12
Four men who claimed to be members of the right-wing Hindu Raksha Dal were arrested for allegedly assaulting students and pushing and hitting women on Delhi's DDU Marg during the October 10 protest, police said on Sunday. The arrests followed the circulation of a purported video on social media showing the incident on a stretch of DDU Marg under the jurisdiction of Kamla Market police station, The Hindu reported.
Separately, YouTuber Dhruv Rathee said he was kidnapped after being released from detention, according to NDTV.
Opposition parties are preparing to intensify their campaign. AICC General Secretary K.C. Venugopal said the Congress, the entire INDIA bloc, and young people across the country would take to Delhi's streets in large numbers on October 12 in a protest against Kumar over what the opposition describes as vote theft. He called the agitation a second freedom struggle to protect democracy and voting rights.
Speaking to reporters in Kannur, Venugopal alleged that attempts were being made to stop party workers from reaching Delhi and that raids were being carried out at places where they were staying. He said the opposition was united and standing together as a single unit, and that the struggle was aimed at preserving the voting rights of the country's voters.
Rahul Gandhi said the Congress, the INDIA bloc, and the country's youth would again take to the streets in massive numbers on October 12, and that the voice would echo across the nation louder than before.
The INDIA bloc plans to hold a protest march in Delhi on Monday against Kumar over the vote theft issue, while a delegation of its senior leaders will submit a memorandum to the Chief Justice of India seeking his intervention in the matter.
The Guardian reported that a leader of the "Cockroach" party was released as Delhi braced for a second day of protests. The Times of India reported that CJP's Ashutosh Ranka attacked Gyanesh Kumar after his release, saying "Istifa to dena hi hoga" and that he was ready to spend his life in jail.
Dipke was seen leaving the residence of senior advocate and Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal after his release, according to The Hindu.
What happens next: the INDIA bloc's October 12 march and its memorandum to the Chief Justice will test whether the court's directions on detention and assembly change how police handle the protests.
