Mamata Banerjee was detained outside her South Avenue residence in Delhi on Saturday while attempting to join a protest demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. She was released at about 6.15 pm along with several other political leaders, after being taken away in a police van.
Banerjee was joined by Trinamool Congress leaders Dola Sen, Pratima Mondal, Derek O’Brien, Samirul Islam and Saket Gokhale. They had planned to attend a demonstration called by the CJP at Jantar Mantar, where protesters were demanding the withdrawal of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls and changes to the law governing the appointment of election commissioners.
According to the report, the planned demonstration was described as ‘Jantar Mantar 2.0’. However, the protesters were not allowed to reach the site. The report said police action was carried out across Delhi, with CJP chief Abhijit Deep, Ashutosh Ranka and Sourav Das among those detained. The CJP had called the protest over demands linked to the Election Commission and the revision of voter lists.
After being prevented from joining the programme, Banerjee sat in protest outside her residence holding a placard that read, “Save democracy, save the country.” Kunal Ghosh said in a post on X that Banerjee had been stopped from leaving the house and had begun protesting there with MPs. Gokhale also posted about the detentions. Banerjee said before her detention that she and other leaders had come after students and young people associated with the CJP invited them to participate.
“We have come here because the students and young people of the CJP had invited us,” Banerjee said, according to the report. She added that several leaders had already been detained and that protesters were not being allowed to enter Jantar Mantar. She said the group had decided to remain outside the residence to support the students, young people, the INDIA alliance, other organisations and those participating in the protest.
Banerjee also expressed anger over the detention of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and said a meeting on the next steps for the INDIA alliance was scheduled for November 2, with Abhishek Banerjee expected to handle that responsibility. During the detention, she addressed supporters from the police van and said, “Save the country, save democracy.”
The report said Banerjee later alleged that she and the other detainees had been driven around Delhi for two hours. After her release, she made further allegations outside Dwarka North police station, claiming that the detainees had not been given water and that media workers had been assaulted. She also alleged that a person with diabetes was not allowed to use a toilet. These claims were made by Banerjee after her release and were not independently verified in the supplied report.
The reported events place restrictions on political assembly, detention procedures and access to designated protest spaces at the centre of the incident. The report did not provide a police statement explaining the grounds for the detentions or specify whether any cases had been registered. It said the leaders were released later on Saturday evening.
