Protests against the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls continued in New Delhi on October 15, with members of the All India Students’ Federation (AISF) and All India Youth Federation (AIYF) taking out a Tiranga march through Connaught Place. The youth organisations said around 100 protesters, including women, were detained after police stopped the march with barricades.
The protesters were demanding the rollback of the SIR exercise, the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the restoration of Jantar Mantar as a designated protest site. The demonstration was the sixth consecutive day of protests in the national capital against the SIR and the Chief Election Commissioner, according to the report by The Hindu.
The march began near PVR Plaza in Block H of Connaught Place and proceeded towards Central Park amid rain. Protesters carried the national flag and copies of the Constitution as they moved through the commercial and public space. Police personnel placed barricades along the route and stopped the demonstrators. Several protesters were taken away in police vehicles.
The youth organisations put the number of detainees at around 100, but the Delhi Police did not release an official count. The police response to the march could not be independently established from the supplied report.
Kashif, who participated in the march, alleged that police personnel dragged and manhandled protesters, including women, before forcing them into buses. He said the protesters wanted to continue conveying their opposition to the SIR despite the detentions. His account was reported as an allegation by a marcher and was not accompanied by a police response in the supplied material.
The protest also focused on Jantar Mantar, a long-standing site associated with demonstrations in the national capital. Santosh Kumar, a Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament and national secretary of the Communist Party of India from Kerala, called on people who believed in democracy to join the movement and seek the restoration of the site as a space for dissent.
Mr. Kumar described Jantar Mantar as a symbol of dissent and the voice of people in the national capital. He also questioned where the Bharatiya Janata Party would protest if political power changed hands, referring to the demand for access to the designated protest venue.
The march came a day before a separate event planned at Central Park in Connaught Place. The New Delhi Municipal Council said the park would remain closed on October 16 and 17 ahead of the CJP’s scheduled “Lehra do Tiranga” march. The closure and the planned event are separate from the AISF-AIYF protest reported on October 15.
The youth organisations’ demands remain the rollback of the SIR, the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner and the restoration of Jantar Mantar as a protest site. No official detention figure or police response to the allegations was available in the supplied report.
