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Sunday | October 04, 2026 | Dhaka

Jantar Mantar 2.0 begins

Around 150 detained as Neha Bora, activists press demand for Gyanesh Kumar's exit
 International Desk
 Published: 12:52 AM, 04 October 2026
All India Students' Association national president Neha Bora being detained by police personnel at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Saturday during a protest against CEC Gyanesh Kumar demanding his resignation over the alleged irregularities in the SIR of electoral rolls and mass deletion of voters.

Former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union president Aishe Ghosh and Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke have condemned the Delhi Police action against protesters at Jantar Mantar, with Ghosh saying the movement had entered a new phase and Dipke accusing the force of suppressing peaceful dissent.

Meanwhile, a protest march towards Jantar Mantar on Saturday led to the detention of around 150 people, including AISA national president Neha Bora, activist Yogendra Yadav and senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, police said.

The demonstrators had set out from Patel Chowk in opposition to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and were seeking his resignation.

In a post on X on Saturday, Ghosh criticised what she described as police brutality against students, young people and civil society members who had gathered around Jantar Mantar.

In a post on X on Saturday, Ghosh criticised what she described as “Delhi police brutality” against students, young people and civil society members who had gathered around Jantar Mantar.

“Jantar Mantar 2.0 has just begun, it’s only going to be over with the removal of Gyanesh Kumar,” she wrote, referring to the demand for the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner.

Dipke responded to Ghosh’s post with criticism of the police response.
“Delhi Police needs to stop acting like henchmen of Amit Shah,” he wrote.

“By crushing dissent and cracking down on peaceful protesters, Delhi Police is bringing nothing but shame to the institution and the country,” Dipke wrote.

He contrasted the Delhi Police response with that of the Mumbai Police, saying the latter should be emulated for facilitating citizens’ right to peaceful dissent rather than suppressing it.

The posts came a day after hundreds of protesters were detained in and around Jantar Mantar during demonstrations demanding Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation and raising concerns over the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.

Later media reports put Friday’s detention count at around 1,000.

Ghosh was among those detained during Friday’s mobilisation. The New Indian Express reported on October 3 that All India Students’ Association activist Neha Bora, who was also detained, had called for protesters to return to Jantar Mantar on Saturday and warned that “Jantar Mantar 2.0 is not over”.

Protesters returned on Saturday, when police again detained several participants, including Bora and Yogendra Yadav.

The mobilisation in Delhi coincided with a separate CJP demonstration at Mumbai’s Shivaji Park on Friday.

Dipke has also called for a protest at Jantar Mantar on October 10 if Kumar does not resign.

The Election Commission has maintained that differing views within the three-member poll panel are part of institutional deliberations and that its orders on the Special Intensive Revision carry legal sanction and follow statutory procedures.