Police detain scores agitators at Jantar Mantar over demand to remove, arrest CEC Gyanesh Kumar

New Delhi,: Scores of students, activists and political workers were detained in central Delhi on Friday after they gathered at Jantar Mantar and nearby stretches demanding the removal and arrest of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and an immediate halt to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

The demonstration, organised by the All India Students’ Association with civil society groups, ran from about 2 pm under heavy police deployment. Placards called for Kumar’s impeachment and the suspension of SIR. Police restricted access to Jantar Mantar, erected multiple layers of barricades and made repeated announcements asking people to stay within the designated zone. When groups tried to move towards the Election Commission headquarters and along Sansad Marg, DDU Marg and Patel Chowk, personnel detained protesters and shifted them in buses to several police stations. Most were released by about 8 pm.

Those taken into custody included AISA president Neha Bora, CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, activist Yogendra Yadav, RTI campaigner Anjali Bhardwaj and Delhi Congress president Devender Yadav. Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra joined the gathering and alleged that Kumar “needs to be prosecuted” and must resign. Congress and student outfits also held parallel protests elsewhere in the capital. Organisers said several media persons were pushed back from the site.

The street action followed an Indian Express report that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had recorded objections on at least 14 occasions over 10 months to SIR-related decisions and administrative instructions. The Commission has said written notes form part of internal deliberation and that final SIR decisions were unanimous. Opposition leaders have framed the dispute as “vote chori”; the BJP has dismissed the charge as an excuse for electoral setbacks.

Delhi Police said no application was filed and no permission was granted for the Jantar Mantar protest. A senior officer told reporters the gathering was therefore unlawful and that personnel were only removing those who assembled without leave. AISA members countered that they had informed Parliament Street police station of their plan.

Protesters alleged officers manhandled students and that some personnel on duty were without name tags. Bhattacharya said police had been “deployed to crush the protest.” Police sources denied both the nametag allegation and claims of manhandling student demonstrators, and separately told reporters they had not manhandled journalists covering the event. Prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the BNSS were cited for the area.

Bora, speaking after detention, said questioning the poll panel would continue. Congress has announced further district-level protests and is examining parliamentary notices seeking the CEC’s removal. The Cockroach Janta Party has threatened a wider “Jantar Mantar 2.0” if Kumar does not step down. The Election Commission has not commented on Friday’s detentions.