An estimated 7,000 people were detained across Delhi Saturday as police and Central forces, enforcing a citywide lockdown put in place Friday night, launched a sweeping crackdown through the day to thwart the Cockroach Janta Party’s protest calling for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.Managing to sequester Jantar Mantar, the site for a planned sit-in by the CJP which protested there for days in July over exam paper leaks until Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned, police clamped down even before the protests could begin this time, making large-scale detentions, shutting 45 Metro stations until evening, stopping the movement of trains and barricading key roads.While CJP leaders Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were detained inside an aircraft and whisked away, several Opposition leaders, including former Chief Ministers Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, Pinarayi Vijayan and Manik Sarkar, were stopped and taken to detention centres where they were held for hours. Groups of marching protesters, several journalists covering the protest, as well as dozens of people who claimed to be bystanders, were picked off the road, bundled into police vehicles, and taken to detention centres.Also Read | Amid stir against election chief, protester thrashed, stones thrown at bus of detaineesFrom the afternoon, protesters in groups of 100-150 broke into spontaneous flash protests at several places including Dilli Haat, Safdarjung flyover, Raj Ghat and Connaught Place. They too were detained.Dipke, Das and Ranka, the CJP’s top three leaders, were detained by police who entered the aircraft on which they arrived in Delhi from Mumbai around 10.20 am. They were whisked away to separate undisclosed locations. Protesters being chased by security personnel at Connaught Place on Saturday. (Photo: Praveen Khanna)In a video released later, Dipke announced that “from now onwards”, Ajinkya Shinde, the CJP’s national organisation in-charge, “will lead the movement.”Later in the day, after news came that Dipke had lost his paternal grandmother, Delhi Police gave him the option to either stay detained in Delhi or travel to Maharashtra to be with his family. In a video, Shinde said the CJP’s protest would continue “until Gyanesh Kumar resigns”, and gave a call for another march to Jantar Mantar at 10 am, Sunday.Story continues below this adAlso Read | ‘Isko Jantar Mantar bana dete hain’: Anxious kin outside, spirits up in detention centresLast month, an investigation by The Indian Express revealed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had objected on record 14 times in 10 months to steps taken by the Commission under CEC Kumar, from keeping them in the dark to adding new voters and deleting names. Security personnel at CP late Saturday night. (Photo: Tashi Tobgyal)Neha, leader of the students’ organisation All India Students’ Association (AISA) and one of the most prominent faces of the protest, was detained near Dilli Haat, along with activist Yogendra Yadav and advocate Prashant Bhushan. Around 7 pm, Neha posted on social media that police had released her from detention.Earlier, climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had sat on a fast alongside Neha during the CJP’s protest at Jantar Mantar in June-July, had announced that he would be compelled to begin a hunger strike or a padayatra if Neha and others were not released by Sunday. Demonstrators run during a protest organised by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over alleged electoral roll irregularities, at Connaught Place, in New Delhi, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (PTI Photo)Popular YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, who is based abroad but had come to India ahead of the protest, was picked up from his home in Gurugram’s Sector 56 early in the morning and taken to a Crime Branch office, police sources said.Story continues below this adAlso Read | ‘Fight for accountability far from over’: After July protest, protesters return to streetsFormer West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was detained outside her Delhi residence along with other leaders of the Trinamool Congress.“This has gone beyond Emergency. It has become a super Emergency,” Banerjee said, and announced that she might join the INDIA bloc’s planned march to the Supreme Court Monday.Leader of Opposition in the Keralam Assembly and former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was detained and taken to Chhatrasal Stadium. Several other Left leaders, including former Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, were also detained. Former Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan was detained near Kerala House on Jantar Mantar Road in New Delhi on Saturday morning. (Photo: X/@CPIMKerala/ Image enhanced by AI)“Delhi is witnessing the Modi government’s ruthless crackdown on democracy,” Vijayan posted on X. “The BJP cannot evade the questions on electoral integrity and silence those demanding accountability through state repression. No repression can extinguish our resolve to defend the Constitution and the right to vote,” he said.Story continues below this adAlso Read | CJP protest | A city sealed off: Empty roads, barricades and detained protestersFormer Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was detained along with several senior AAP leaders including Sanjay Singh and Saurabh Bharadwaj outside Kejriwal’s Lodhi Estate residence. Policemen lifted Kejriwal by his legs and chest and carried him to a police bus.Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi announced that the protests would continue, and dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to do “whatever he wanted”. Protesters clash with police near Baba Kharak Singh Marg. (Photo: Gajendra Yadav)“Narendra Modi, (Home Minister) Amit Shah, (RSS Sarsanghchalak) Mohan Bhagwat, Gyanesh Kumar, and (National Security Adviser) Ajit Doval, the villains of this story, are slowly finding the space closing around them. We are closing that space,” Gandhi said in a video posted online.“Mr Modi, do whatever you want. Call out all the police: 10,000, 20,000, 50,000, whatever you want… Arrest all the young people. Arrest us all. We are surrounding you, and we are not going to back down,” he said.Story continues below this adDelhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta hit back at the Opposition and protesters, saying “Delhi will not be held hostage”.“There will be a resolute fight against the politics of spreading anarchy under the guise of democracy and challenging the people’s mandate,” she said. Policemen detain a protester during a youth demonstration demanding the resignation of the country’s election chief Gyanesh Kumar, in New Delhi, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo)BJP national president Nitin Nabin alleged that the Opposition was “attempting to destabilise the country in collusion with foreign powers”.While Saturday’s protests did not see large-scale violence similar to July 20 when the CJP led its march towards Parliament, some scattered incidents were reported. In the evening, stones were thrown at a bus full of detained protesters near Jhandewalan. Police said six of their personnel, including a woman member of the Pink Force, sustained injuries while detaining protesters.