Protesters gathered in New Delhi on Sunday to call for the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, with police detaining a number of those present as the demonstrations entered their second day.

Notwithstanding a Supreme Court of India directive barring unlawful detentions and interference with press activity, police operations during the unrest resulted in more than 200 people taken into custody, a number of journalists held, and multiple individuals sustaining injuries, according to accounts from those present.

Citing what it described as police misconduct, the Cockroach Janata Party announced a nationwide mobilisation drive aimed at securing the Chief Election Commissioner's resignation. Students Federation of India leader Aishe Ghosh, addressing a press conference to launch the initiative dubbed Jantar Mantar 2.0, declared that her organisation's street presence would continue for as long as the campaign required.

With the main protest site at Jantar Mantar closed off, demonstrators on Sunday moved toward Connaught Place, gathering through its streets and side lanes, where barricades went up, slogans rang out, and a number of people were detained. Protesters who had spread out across multiple locations on Saturday gathered into a tighter cluster by Sunday.

Chanting demands for Gyanesh Kumar's resignation, the group made its way toward Jantar Mantar, where police took them into custody and moved them away by bus. Complaints about officer behaviour surfaced alongside accounts that groups aligned with right-wing politics had worked in concert with law enforcement during the handling of protesters.

Among those detained that day were CPI(M) parliamentarian John Brittas, AISA representative Neha Bora, students, activists, and journalists. Following his detention, Mr. Brittas was conveyed to hospital to receive treatment for injuries he was reported to have sustained while in custody.

Accounts circulated that students were subjected to physical handling by officers while detained in police vehicles. Twenty first information reports were filed by Delhi Police across the two-day demonstration, among them cases alleging that officers had been assaulted.

A substantial police presence was deployed across central Delhi, where gatherings by demonstrators faced restrictions on movement.

Upon their release from preventive detention, Abhijeet Dipke, Ashutosh Ranka, and Saurav Das — three leaders within the CJP — pledged that their campaign against CEC Gyanesh Kumar would press forward and extend its reach across the country. A call went out to political parties to stand together in opposing the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, with those behind the appeal contending that the exercise touches on wider concerns about how elections are administered.

On Monday, the Congress party called for a nationwide agitation, with Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi separately declaring his intention to lead a march to the Supreme Court on the same day.

Dipke, Ranka, and Das walked free on Sunday morning after an executive magistrate processed their release, each bound by a one-year undertaking to keep the peace. Dipke travelled to Nagpur to attend his grandmother's funeral, while an unnamed party conveyed the position that no breach of peace ought to occur for the coming year.

Mr. Das attributed the disruption of public order to the actions of Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, and Gyanesh Kumar. Ranka drew a parallel between the events of the preceding 72 hours and the Emergency period, noting that even during 1975 train services had not been suspended.

Separately, YouTuber Dhruv Rathee stated that roughly 20 individuals in civilian clothing arrived at his home on Saturday morning and transported him across multiple police stations, during which time he was kept without access to a phone or legal counsel for approximately 22 to 23 hours.

CJP leaders contended that train cancellations, curbs on public gatherings, and the detention of activists had together produced conditions resembling a state of emergency. At a press conference, Mr. Das put forward the position that the government held the option of extending an invitation to protesters for dialogue rather than placing restrictions on those who sought to gather at an assigned demonstration site.

Neha Bora, president of AISA, held onto a barricade as security personnel moved to escort her away. The SFI's account of the protest included claims that women demonstrators — among them the organisation's leader, Aishe Ghosh — were subjected to physical contact by male officers of the police force. The account further included an assertion that Father Biju Xavier, who serves as vicar of Sacred Heart Church, was taken into custody by police while recording what the source described as misconduct by officers.

Officers took hold of Mr. Brittas and carried him bodily from where he stood during his detention, and he fell to the ground on the steps of a police bus. At Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, where the patient was being treated, CPI(M) general secretary M. A. Baby and RJD MP Manoj Jha each came to visit him.

The CPI(M) posted on X that Mr. Brittas had sustained injuries after what the party described as disproportionate use of force, with its statement characterising Delhi Police as having gone beyond acceptable bounds. Mr. Brittas separately posted on the platform that Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Shah would face consequences for the incident.

He added that letters had been dispatched to the President, the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, and the Chief Justice of India, each calling for intervention, accountability for the officers involved, and a ruling on the matter of parliamentary privilege.