Delhi Police detained scores of protesters in central Delhi on Friday, Oct. 23, as a march toward the Election Commission of India's headquarters demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and a halt to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Police said around 20 protesters were detained and later released; the Indian Express reported more than 100 detentions.
The march, called by the Delhi Coordination Committee of People Against SIR — a civil society collective — continued a wave of demonstrations staged since Oct. 2 against the roll-revision exercise and the election chief.
The march and the detentions
Reports put the crowd at 300–500 people, gathering from around 1 p.m. near Gole Dak Khana — the intersection of Kalibari Marg and Bhai Vir Singh Marg — and Bangla Sahib Gurdwara, carrying the national flag and banners before attempting to march toward Nirvachan Sadan, the ECI headquarters on Ashoka Road.
Security was heavy: more than 1,000 Delhi Police and Central Armed Police Forces personnel were deployed, with Rapid Action Force units and heavy barricading at the ECI office and Jantar Mantar, per the Express. Police had imposed prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita near Bangla Sahib and Connaught Place from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., said no permission had been granted, and registered at least one FIR for violating the orders.
Blocked on Ashoka Road, protesters held a sit-in near the Bangla Sahib roundabout — a "people's Parliament," organizers said. Detentions began around 3 p.m.; the Express reported at least three busloads of detainees taken to detention centers, and by 4:30 p.m. the area was largely cleared. Scroll.in reported some protesters climbing atop police buses to stop them from leaving.
Who marched and what they demanded
Those at the march included CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat, CPI leaders P Sandosh Kumar and Annie Raja, MP V Sivadasan, activist Yogendra Yadav, Anjali Bhardwaj, Amrita Johri and economist Jayati Ghosh, plus student and women's organizations — AIDWA, AIDSO, AISA, AISF, SFI and Krantikari Yuva Sangathan — with the Samyukta Kisan Morcha's backing.
The central demands were Kumar's resignation and scrapping SIR. "Our struggle will continue until CEC Gyanesh Kumar resigns," Karat told reporters, per the Telegraph India. Sandosh Kumar added, "Our protest will intensify; nobody can save Gyanesh Kumar." Yadav said the movement would continue despite restrictions, including Jantar Mantar's denotification as a protest site: "Until Gyanesh Kumar resigns, we will continue to protest."
People Against SIR announced on its website that 145 organizations would hold protests in 88 cities across 18 states in the coming days, with programs scheduled through Nov. 1.
What the SIR exercise is
The Special Intensive Revision is the Election Commission's exercise to revise electoral rolls across the country. Protesters allege it has led to large-scale deletions of voters' names: Scroll.in reported that more than 13 crore names have been removed from the draft electoral rolls across 30 states and Union Territories during the exercise.
People Against SIR — formed Oct. 14 at Surjeet Bhavan in New Delhi — has alleged the exercise is illegal and demanded the rolls be restored to their pre-2024 version and updated through social audits, per ABP Live. The Deccan Herald noted there had been no street protests in the capital against the CEC since a 'Tiranga' protest on Oct. 16, owing to the festival season.
Music in this post's reel: Kevin MacLeod - Volatile Reaction (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0