Thousands of opposition workers, students and activists gathered at Jantar Mantar on Friday demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, with police detaining around 700 protesters.

The demonstration was called by the All India Students Association, Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha and advocate Prashant Bhushan over alleged voter-list irregularities and the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. Leaders including Brinda Karat, M.A. Baby, Saurabh Bhardwaj and Sanjeev Jha were detained.

Delhi Police had denied permission for the gathering and imposed Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita. Entry and exit gates at 11 metro stations, including Rajiv Chowk and Mandi House, were closed, and central Delhi saw heavy barricading.

Protesters demanded the suspension of the SIR exercise and restoration of voter rolls. A parallel protest was planned in Mumbai by the Cockroach Janta Party.

Former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia had urged people on X to join the protest, writing that voting rights were being snatched away. In Mumbai, the Cockroach Janta Party called a parallel Jail Bharo Andolan at Shivaji Park after police denied permission, citing a 2013 Bombay High Court order that makes the area a silence zone.