Ahead of a planned march by the INDIA bloc to the Supreme Court on 12 October 2026, authorities deployed a visible police and security presence across central Delhi. Physical barriers were erected at a number of points around the city, while access through six named metro stations — Patel Chowk, Janpath, Rajiv Chowk, Mandi House, Central Secretariat, and Barakhamba Road — was restricted at both entrances and exits during a ten-hour window running from 6:00 AM through 4:00 PM, in line with security arrangements put in place for the occasion.

Forces drawn from the Rapid Action Force, the Central Reserve Police Force, and Delhi Police took up positions along Barakhamba Road in the vicinity of Mandi House.

Those behind the demonstration called on people nationwide to join the effort, pushing for alleged voting irregularities — characterised by the group as pervasive — to be examined in a transparent, public forum, alongside a demand that the country's chief electoral officer vacate the position.

Rahul Gandhi, who holds the post of Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, issued a call to fellow opposition parties to take part in the non-violent march. A statement attributed to him indicated that on 12 October, a nationwide gathering would proceed to the Supreme Court in an orderly fashion. Gandhi called on students, civil society groups, and opposition parties to stand together in defence of democratic institutions.

Gandhi also contended that personnel from Delhi Police and the Bharatiya Janata Party had resorted to physical force against students and women at an earlier demonstration where protesters had sought the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. He stated that young people had gathered in Delhi to demonstrate without incident, and that, according to accounts given at the time, physical assaults were carried out against them by police officers as well as by members affiliated with the BJP.

In remarks directed at Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Gandhi contended that Delhi Police had permitted RSS-BJP affiliates to commit acts of violence against women and young people under Shah's watch. He further argued that each government attempt to curb the protest movement would intensify discontent among students and younger voters, and that no volume of deployed officers — whether 10,000, 20,000, or 40,000 — stood to change that trajectory. Gandhi vowed that people across the country would take their grievances to the Supreme Court.

Gandhi also stated that figures such as Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Ajit Doval, and Mohan Bhagwat lacked the power to suppress public expression across India, declaring that those involved would not succeed in applying pressure and would be required to stand down. He called on participants to advance together, united by shared civic values and a sense of common purpose, and asserted that no basis for fear or pressure existed within the movement.

Protesters announced plans to bring their petition to the Supreme Court as a cross-section of the population, with divisions of party affiliation, gender, caste, community, and state set aside. The organisation announced plans to submit a memorandum to the Chief Justice, putting forward demands — backed by a range of groups spanning youth organisations, opposition parties, and civil society bodies — for the cessation of what it described as electoral fraud, the suspension of the Special Intensive Revision process, and the removal of Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar from office.

KC Venugopal, General Secretary (Organisation) of the Indian National Congress, characterised the march as one element of a wider effort aimed at upholding democratic principles, adding that the movement had no intention of halting. He described the movement as having taken on the character of a broad, popular mobilisation extending beyond its origins as a protest. Organisers framed the effort as a defence of the nation's foundational governing principles.

Venugopal noted that, though the Chief Justice of India had not agreed to receive their delegation, the opposition's plan to march to the Supreme Court the following day remained firm, and that people across India were expected to take part.

Shashi Tharoor, a Congress MP, put forward the allegation that the Election Commission of India had been operating in disregard of existing laws, and announced that opposition figures intended to march in a push for the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar alongside a halt to the Special Intensive Revision exercise. Addressing what he described as the constitutional basis for civic participation, Tharoor argued that India's constitution enshrines each citizen's entitlement to cast a ballot, shape their own political views, and hold authority over their personal future.

Approximately 130 million voters are reported to have been removed from electoral rolls by the Election Commission, a development that opposition figures and others have cited as a basis for concern over whether established procedures and legal requirements were followed.

The Congress party outlined its intention to approach the Supreme Court with a multi-pronged petition covering a suspension of the Special Intensive Revision process, the nullification of rules under which voter rolls had been modified, restoration of voting rights to those it contended had been stripped of them, and the removal of the Chief Election Commissioner on grounds the party described as electoral wrongdoing. On a separate track, Chief Justice Surya Kant declined to receive a delegation from INDIA bloc leaders who had sought to hand over a representation concerning the alleged irregularities, directing them toward a formal petition on the basis that connected proceedings were already pending before the court.