The opposition parties plan to intensify their protest by hitting the streets of Delhi today, 10th October 2026, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar. The developments follow an Indian Express Investigation which exposed an internal rift in the Election Commission, revealing how EC commissioners SS Sandhu and Vivek Joshi raised at least 14 formal complaints in 10 months.
Their complaints pertain to Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, unauthorized changes to form 6, unauthorized appeals and decisions made by CEC Gyanesh Kumar without sharing the knowledge with the other commissioners.
The Cockroach Janta Party has organized a large-scale protest in Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, joining hands with various student organizations. Some of these include All India Students Organization (AISA), members of the Student’s Federation of India (SFI) and All India Student’s Federation (AISF) among others.
AISA President Neha Bora has pledged to “lead this fight unitedly” and “take to the streets to raise people’s issues and defend their rights.” However, the CJP has been denied permission by the Delhi Police to protest in Delhi on Saturday, Oct. 10. These protests have been blocked, citing Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita. Additionally, train services will be cancelled, restrictions will be imposed at 57 metro stations, and liquor shops will remain closed for two days as part of security measures.
What the Delhi Police Said
Joint Commissioner of the Delhi Police, Nupur Prasad has grounded the denial of permission stating that the CJP was “not following the conditions as part of undertaking during the past protest,” referring to the July protests over NEET-UG paper leaks. CJP co-convener Saurav Das had submitted a letter informing the Delhi Police about the protest, three days before on October 7, 2026.
However, under the official guidelines, the application had to be submitted ten days in advance, a requirement the CJP dismissed as unnecessary to inform the police, given that Jantar Mantar is a designated protest site.
Apart from this, the INDIA bloc continues to push for CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation and upholds their ‘vote chori’ claims. They will meet President Droupadi Murmu at 8pm on 9 October, 2026 to address the ongoing SIR row. The members of the delegation include Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal’s Ex-CM Mamata Banerjee, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, CPM general secretary MA Baby, RJD leader Tejaswi Yadav and CPI general secretary D Raja among others.
Aam Aadmi Party’s National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal has urged people to participate in the October 10 protests at Jantar Mantar. Kejriwal stated that he will be going and “my entire family will be going” as well. He further claimed that people who did not vote for the BJP were being deleted off the electoral list, openly under ECE Gyanesh Kumar.
Apart from this, the Karnataka Congress has launched their “Save Vote, Save Country” campaign at the block level panchayat from October 10 to 20, creating awareness about vote theft. There would be other meetings held from October 25 to November 25 as well for grassroot mobilization and outreach. KPCC President BK Hariprasad had reiterated the commitment of the Congress in identifying the names deleted through Form 7 and later restoring them via ground-level surveys.