New Delhi: After a consistent battle between batons, barricades, barbarity, protestors and police, Connaught Place has been bestowed with a new identity.On Monday (October 12), Delhi Police de-notified Jantar Mantar as a designated protest venue in Lutyen’s Delhi, dissenting crowds etched an indelible mark on the area and on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tenure.From October 10 onwards, the political and power corridors of the national capital swelled up in anger against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar concern the Election Commission’s handling of voter deletions under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), with opposition parties accusing the Commission of disproportionately excluding voters and undermining electoral fairness. While there were separate calls for protest by the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), All India Students’ Association (AISA) national president Neha Bora and Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi, to express their stand against CEC, lines of political groups seemed to have blurred on the ground.In rage and a desire for redemption of the wrongs done to them, thousands from different communities and parties seemed to converge in the heart of New Delhi.Anger, dissent and desire for democracyOn October 10, as journalists, protesters and those in solidarity with the call by CJP reached or tried to make their way to Jantar Mantar, they were met by a sea of security forces – Delhi Police, Haryana Police, Uttar Pradesh Police, Border Security Force (BSF), Rapid Action Force (RAF), the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and even the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), along with – an approximated total of more than 40,000-armed personnel.And this mammoth math of personnel did cast the crowds to severe brutality – from detaining visibly identifiable journalists wearing press cards, to thrashing and beating protestors primarily engaged in peaceful protests, it appeared as though the personnels’ efforts were focused on quelling both protests and media coverage. But despite the capital’s heart being under severe territorial and communication clampdown – several citizens jumped barricades, camped overnight, and bore painful scars and injuries to make sure that their voice for the value of their votes was heard.Nisha S., a protester from Noida, camped overnight in Connaught Place in her car with her 19-year-old daughter, to show her what real democracy looked like. “We were here since the night of October 9, we slept in our car to be able to attend the CJP protest in time. But sadly, we can’t even move much without being apprehended by the cops,” Nisha told The Wire as she and her daughter walked near Baba Kharak Singh Marg.Demonstrators 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 on October 10, 2026. Photo: PTI/Karma Bhutia.Rima* another protester who was masked to hide her identity travelled from Bengaluru to attend the protest on October 9. “I don’t want to be dragged into the facial recognition system, they are wearing bodycams you know. I’ve been wearing a mask since I stepped into CP,” she told The Wire as she held a poster saying, “Ghosted by ECI [Election Commission of India].”As small isolated groups of protesters and journalists anxiously plied along the road near Bangla Sahib Gurudwara’s Gate 3 – protesters arrived running and they yelled slogans – “Vote Chor [thief], Gaddi Chhor [resign]”, “Jab Jab [When] Modi darrta hai [is scared], Police ko aagay karta hai [he sends the police ahead]” – broke the silence in the area.RAF and Delhi Police waited for an hour outside Bangla Sahib Gurudwara’s Gate number 3 to drag out protesters in New Delhi on October 10. Photo: Tarushi Aswani.Grabbing the opportunity, an activist of the Pragatisheel Mahila Sangathan, Poonam, pulled out a poster from her bag which said, “Scrap SIR, CEC Resign,” “Neither are our votes safe, neither are women safe. Do they know how many women are raped every day? What is this government even doing?” she said.As Poonam shared her experience, she saw a young girl running towards the Gurudwara, “Go inside and hide your poster, pretend to be here for prayers,” she cautioned the female protester. In their struggle to protest, strangers were warning each other, planning alternate routes to reach Jantar Mantar and complaining of the kind of brutality the forces showed.Many other also pulled out posters from their bags, as the crowd rushed into the Gurudwara to seek shelter from being arrested.For almost an hour, police personnel were unable to pluck out any protester from the Gurudwara. Later, they arrived with buses with more personnel who plucked people from the lobby of the Gurudwara.Where did my vote vanish?Ravinder Punia, a protester, travelled from Rajasthan’s Churu, to ask CEC Kumar about his vote. Punia, a fashion designer with international brands was shocked to know that the ECI had deleted his name from the rolls in June.“My father, mother, wife, all are there in the roll, how does this happen that my name was deleted? I have been a Congress supporter, that is why locally this was made possible to delete me,” Punia alleges.“They halted my train, but changing buses and other modes, I made sure to reach and protest against this deeply planned deletion of votes. Can anyone even ask him where our votes have vanished. Or what was the price he received to delete the votes of 13 crore Indians?” Punia told The Wire.Also read: Delhi’s Total Crackdown Lays Bare a Government Unable to Handle Any CrisisAfter mounting allegations over the mass deletion of names from electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), the ECI directed states on September 29 to conduct a special drive to enrol voters who had been left out, with Form 6 serving as the route to re-enter the rolls. But critics argue that the remedy risks placing the burden on disenfranchised citizens to prove their eligibility and reapply, rather than requiring the Commission to explain why their names were deleted; concerns have also been raised about additional SIR-related declarations in the online form, which two election commissioners reportedly objected to as unauthorised. Nasreen Chaudhry, another deleted voter from Northeast Delhi’s Khajuri Khas, walked the protest march alleging that the whole exercise is designed to cull out Muslim voters.“I am more than 60 years old, I have voted so many times, how is it that suddenly my name becomes illegal? Is this the kind of governance Modi promised of? Is this what he calls democracy?” Chaudhry asked.As the police continued to fill buses with protested individuals, one point clear to many by the end of October 11, was that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government had made up its mind about wiping the existence of their dissent and making the act of protest such a humiliating experience that citizens refuse to engage in it and journalists refrain from covering it.Media reports said that at least 7,000 protesters were detained and released on October 10, with hundreds detained on October 11.In Prime Minister Modi’s garrisoned form of governance, yellow barricades and police forces at every nook and corner were emblematic of the lack of sensitivity within the BJP government towards the right to peaceful assembly and expression.Despite the Supreme Court’s directions that peaceful, unarmed protesters must not be detained except in accordance with the law, Delhi witnessed a sweeping crackdown on demonstrations demanding Chief Election Commissioner Kumar’s resignation over alleged irregularities in the voter-roll revision exercise. Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), which restricts assemblies in designated areas, remained in force across parts of the capital, while protesters were detained at multiple locations, including Connaught Place and outside the Press Club of India (PCI). Several protesters sustained injuries and were beaten as well while opposition leaders and activists alleged that the police had manhandled them during detention. The developments raised serious questions about the gap between the Supreme Court’s directions protecting peaceful assembly and the authorities’ actions on the ground. Melting pot of grievancesDr. Vicky took an overnight bus from Kannauj to attend the protests in Delhi. After travelling 450 kms, the MBBS intern was disappointed at the way the wave of violence was unleashed on protesters. “My name was not deleted from the rolls, but I have come to lodge my stand against the government’s serious lack of efforts at the way medical exams are conducted, the way randomly lists are released and then cancelled. This is unacceptable,” he said.Several protesters that The Wire came across, were present in the area to vent out their anger, anxieties and the simple sentiment of being denied space for peaceful expression of problems.Detained protestors yelled Inquilab zindabad from inside detention buses in New Delhi on October 10, 2026. Photo: Tarushi Aswani.Standing near Hanuman Road, watching the protest unfold, was Prakash Chandra Sharma, a tour guide who has called Connaught Place his office for over a decade. Sharma arrived in India, three decades ago from Nepal. “My parents got us here for a better life. India is truly a great country,” Sharma says.But after 2012, Sharma says he felt a little disappointed. “You know those scams, Coalgate, 2G, they shook me, so I joined the RSS [Rahtriya Swayamsevak Sangh],” he shared.Today, Sharma is in awe of the thousands who joined the protests against CEC Kumar. “I thought I was on the right side of history and ethics when I joined the RSS, they are very organised. But this Hindu-Muslim issue that they create, it makes me regret my association with them,” Sharma said with teary eyes.On October 12, as LoP Gandhi called upon people to join the march against ‘vote chori (theft)’ and the BJP’s efforts to cover for CEC Kumar, Suresh Ror, Haryana spokesperson of the Congress party was one of the lakhs of people who are said to have joined the march. Ror believes that now that the documents reveal what Kumar did under the orders of the BJP, there must be no delay in demanding his resignation. Also read: Jantar Mantar: What Experts Feel About the Denotification of Dissent“Ever since 2019, then in 2024, the BJP has been rigging elections. There is ample proof. They even stop counting after certain rounds, is that fair? Our leader Rahul Gandhi has been relentlessly showing documentary proofs of fake voters and targeted SIR deletions and the anger in the people can be seen here, even the BJP knows it has been caught red-handed,” Ror told The Wire.Gandhi’s allegations of electoral manipulation have evolved over the years. In 2019, he accused the Election Commission of yielding to the BJP, citing its handling of EVMs, electoral bonds, the election schedule and NaMo TV as examples of an uneven playing field. Following the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections, he questioned the sharp increase in registered voters between the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, alleging that the electoral rolls had been manipulated to benefit the BJP. In 2025, Gandhi escalated his ‘vote chori’ campaign, presenting alleged discrepancies in voter lists in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Haryana including duplicate entries, questionable addresses and bulk registrations and accusing the Election Commission of shielding those responsible. He also alleged that the SIR in Bihar was being used to delete existing voters and add others ahead of the Assembly elections. In 2026, he extended these accusations to the nationwide voter-roll revision, challenging mass deletions and citing cases such as Bela Estate in Delhi, where he said 727 of 728 residents had been removed from the electoral list. He has accused the BJP and the Election Commission of working together to undermine electoral democracy; both the BJP and the poll body have rejected allegations of partisan manipulation.Amid these allegations and battles of the ballot, Gandhi united several opposition parties against the BJP to join him for the October 12 march in Delhi. As several different flags, the national flag, AISA, Indian Youth Congress (IYC), All India Students’ Federation (AISF), Students’ Federation of India (SFI), the Congress Party, Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) flags, among others merged together in the crowds, differences were swept aside and everyone marched against Gyanesh Kumar and appealed for the cancellation of SIR.All the roads that they barricaded, all the metro station entry and exits that they sealed, all the attempts that the government made to quell dissent, all the detentions that happened, all the injuries that the protesters sustained, united them in a common cause, which was to push the BJP government towards accountability and nothing less. United in their certainty towards the allegations of ‘vote chori’, Connaught Place became the conclave of convergence of several political ideologies, marching for the preservation and sustenance of democracy.For our full coverage on the SIR and the issues it has brought to citizens, click here.