Police have carried out a massive crackdown in Delhi amidst protests demanding the resignation of India’s Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Gyanesh Kumar. By 2:00 PM on Saturday (October 10), approximately 5,000 protesters had been detained from various parts of the capital and taken to temporary detention centers set up across the city.

Among those detained are CJP founder Dipke, student leader Neha Bora, YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, and four former Chief Ministers: Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, Manik Sarkar, and Pinarayi Vijayan.

These details were reported by the Indian media outlet *The Hindu*.

Around 14,000 security personnel—comprising 10,000 male and 4,000 female police officers—have been deployed in Delhi to manage the protests. Alongside the Delhi Police, personnel from the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) and security forces from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Rajasthan are also on duty.

The ‘Cockroach Janata Party’ (CJP) and several Left-wing organizations had called for a protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on Saturday to demand the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar and the cancellation of the Special Summary Revision (SSR) process for voter lists. However, the police did not grant permission for the event.

Several journalists were also detained during the police crackdown surrounding the protests. They included journalists from the Hindi daily *Navbharat Times* and digital news outlets *Scroll.in* and *Newslaundry*; all were subsequently released.

Meanwhile, citing intelligence sources, *The Hindu* reported that various security agencies, including the Delhi Police, have ordered the removal of over 50 social media posts accused of spreading misleading information regarding the protests.

While in detention in Delhi, Abhijit Dipke, founder of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), received news of his grandmother’s death. Citing family sources, *The Hindu* reported that Savitribai Shankarrao Dipke passed away at the age of 85 on Saturday in Maharashtra’s Hingoli district after a prolonged illness. She died at her ancestral home in Santuk Pimpri village around 11:30 AM. She had been ailing for about a month and had previously been admitted to a hospital in Hingoli.

Delhi Police sources stated that Abhijit Dipke was informed of his grandmother’s death while in custody. It is now up to him to decide whether to continue the protest while detained or return home to attend his grandmother’s funeral.

Abhijit Dipke, along with CJP co-convener Ashutosh Ranka and spokesperson Saurav Das, was detained by the police after arriving in Delhi to join a protest demanding the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner. The group has stated that the movement will continue despite the detention of its top leaders.