In Photos | Mass Detentions and Police Deployment as Calls For Gyanesh Kumar's Resignation Grow
New Delhi: Hundreds of people have gathered at Jantar Mantar, Delhi, on Friday (October 2) to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over allegations of irregularities during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. In response, the state has deployed around 4,000 police personnel and has clamped down on dissent by shutting down metro stations and detaining protesters.
Videos and photographs of protesters being brutally detained by the police have emerged, showing security forces manhandling and dragging citizens to buses. Members of All India Students' Association (AISA), Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), Students' Federation of India (SFI) and Congress’s youth group National Students' Union of India (NSUI) have been taken into custody, along with opposition party leaders, activists and protesting citizens.
As reported by The Wire earlier, the number of female police officers at central areas like Jantar Mantar and Connaught Place are noticeably few, even as women protesters also being handled roughly and taken into buses. Despite the police crackdown and widespread detentions, protesters have no backed down, raising slogans and demanding accountability.
The SIR process has been riddled with controversies, with 13 crore names deleted from the draft voter rolls since June 2025. Muslims and members of marginalised communities overwhelmingly dominate these deletions. In recent weeks, several other irregularities with the functioning of the Election Commission of India (ECI) have emerged, including and Indian Express investigation that revealed that two of the three members of the ECI had not been privy to a number of major decisions taken in the name of the commission over the past 10 months.
This revelation, coupled with pervasive inconsistencies in the SIR exercise, including inadequacies of the commission's ERONET software in adding eligible voters to the list, has sparked public outrage, with people pouring onto the streets to demand justice for the inexcusable underhandedness of the CEC and the central government.
Police personnel taking a protester into custody in New Delhi, on Friday, October 2, 2026. Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta.
Protesters stand in front of a police bus being used to detain people to prevent its movement. Photo: Jahnavi Sen.
Photo: Jahnavi Sen.
A poster demanding the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities during the SIR exercise. Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta.
Police stand outside buses to detain protesters near Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta.
Security personnel detain All India Students' Association (AISA) National President Neha Bora and other activists during the protest against Gyanesh Kumar. Photo: PTI/Salman Ali.
All India Students' Association (AISA) National President Neha Bora being detained during a protest carried out by political parties and members of AISA, SFI, NSUI and other student bodies against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar. Photo: PTI/Karma Bhutia.
Demonstrators being detained by the police in Delhi. Photo: PTI.
A protestor being detained by the police during an agitation against the CEC near the Jantar Mantar, in New Delhi, Friday, Oct. 2, 2026. Photo: PTI/Karma Bhutia.
Police personnel detain members of AISA, SFI, NSUI and other student bodies are protesting to demand Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. Photo: PTI/Karma Bhutia.
Police personnel detain people protesting against the CEC near the Jantar Mantar, in New Delhi. Photo: PTI/Karma Bhutia.
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