The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has announced another protest march towards Jantar Mantar at 10 am on Sunday, after claiming that thousands of students, political figures and civil society members were detained during an anti-Election Commission protest in Delhi on October 10. The proposed mobilisation could bring fresh police restrictions and travel disruption in central Delhi.
Ajinkya Shinde, the CJP’s national organisation in-charge, announced the protest in a post on X. He said party leaders Abhijeet Dipke, Ashutosh Ranka and Saurabh Das, along with student leaders and volunteers, had been detained during the earlier demonstration. The CJP is demanding the resignation of Gyanesh Kumar, whom it accuses of taking away the voting rights of 12 crore voters.
“We will not stop protesting until we secure Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation,” Shinde said in the statement. He appealed to supporters to gather in large numbers and march towards Jantar Mantar, adding that any location where the Delhi Police stopped protesters would become their “Jantar Mantar”.
The Delhi Police told The Indian Express that its deployment would remain the same as it had been on Saturday. A police officer said measures involving the metro and trains could be taken depending on the situation on Sunday. The response indicates that access arrangements and public transport operations may be adjusted as the protest develops, although specific station closures or service changes were not announced in the report.
According to a statement issued by the CJP, more than 15,000 people, including students, civil society members and political figures, had faced detention and police action. The party also alleged that train and bus services were cancelled, flights were disrupted, metro stations were closed and signal jammers were deployed to obstruct peaceful assembly. These claims were made by the party and were not independently established in the supplied report.
The allegations place transport infrastructure at the centre of the dispute. Jantar Mantar is a designated public assembly site in central Delhi, but access to the area during large demonstrations can affect nearby roads, transit interchanges and the movement of commuters through the city. Any decision to restrict access or modify transport services would therefore have consequences beyond the protest site.
Srijan Bhattacharya of the Students’ Federation of India expressed solidarity with the protesters and alleged that restrictions had turned New Delhi into a fortified zone. He referred to alleged closures of metro stations, suspension of train services, signal jammers and detentions at transit hubs. These statements were also presented as allegations by a protest supporter.
The immediate operational question is whether Sunday’s mobilisation will lead to changes in police deployment, road access or metro and rail services. Delhi Police said such measures would depend on the situation, leaving commuters to await further instructions from the authorities and transport agencies before travelling through central Delhi.
