Opposition legislators aligned with the INDIA bloc arrived at the Supreme Court in New Delhi on Monday to file a joint petition challenging what they characterised as procedural irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. Rahul Gandhi, in his capacity as Leader of Opposition, joined forces with Neha Bora of AISA and other senior alliance figures to lead the mobilisation effort.

The jointly filed petition carried the names of figures spanning the opposition benches — among them Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, party MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee, RJD's Tejashwi Yadav, Supriya Sule of NCP (SP), Sanjay Raut of Shiv Sena (UBT), CPI's D Raja, and CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby. Among the other names on the document were CPI(ML) figure Dipankar Bhattacharya, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha parliamentary representative Mahua Majhi, and Indian Union Muslim League's E T Mohammed Basheer.

From the Connaught Place–Barakhamba Road junction, the crowd set off on foot toward the Supreme Court. Among the Congress figures who gathered at the event were Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, and Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu. Among those present were parliamentarians Shashi Tharoor and Sachin Pilot, Trinamool Congress figure Sagarika Ghosh, and civil society figures Yogendra Yadav and Nandita Narayan.

Barriers erected by officers brought the march to a standstill along Bhagwan Dass Road. Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Tejashwi Yadav, and Akhilesh Yadav were among the leaders who mounted a vehicle during the procession after it moved beyond the barricades, with chants from participants directed at the government and the Chief Election Commissioner.

Organisers timed the procession to coincide with the Chief Justice of India's decision not to grant Rahul Gandhi and Kharge an audience, the two opposition leaders having requested a window between 4 pm and 5 pm on Monday to hand over a memorandum concerning electoral roll irregularities. The court noted that its position on amendments to Form 6 — the registration document through which voters seek inclusion on electoral rolls — had not been stated either way, with the bench observing that no approval or disapproval of those changes had been expressed on its part. The bench indicated it would take the matter under review.

A notice directed at the Election Commission of India went out from the bench, with the case placed on the 29 October docket alongside other petitions relating to the SIR exercise. Speaking at a ceremony marking the National Human Rights Commission's 33rd anniversary, Chief Justice Surya Kant told journalists on the sidelines that matters of law and order fall outside the scope of his role on the bench. The argument was also put forward that lawmakers, like any other citizen, retain the right to bring matters before the Supreme Court.

Ahead of the planned demonstration, Rahul Gandhi addressed Congress headquarters, where he called on Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to resign from his post. Gandhi put forward the claim that Kumar did not bear primary responsibility for the electoral manipulation under scrutiny, urging him to step down and turn approver while stating that the underlying plan had originated elsewhere. Gandhi separately put forward that around 200 government officers had been in communication with the opposition and passing information to them.

Describing the ongoing demonstration as "Shiva's Tandav," Gandhi stated that the movement carried no predetermined conclusion. When his sister raised the possibility of mapping out a withdrawal plan, Gandhi set the idea aside on the grounds that Tandav — understood as Shiva's cosmic dance — exists outside the domain of deliberate planning.

On Monday, Shiv Sena (UBT) and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) each held independent demonstrations at Shivaji Park in central Mumbai, with both groups calling on Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to resign. Shiv Sena (UBT) members and party officials — Aaditya Thackeray and his brother Tejas positioned at the head of the group — staged a silent demonstration, with black ribbons fixed across their mouths. Placards bearing the phrase "vote chor gaddi chod" were visible throughout the crowd assembled at the protest.

Jantar Mantar lost its status as a sanctioned venue for public gatherings under a Delhi Police order, with Ramlila Ground, Burari Ground, and CBD Ground in East Delhi designated as the three replacement sites where demonstrations may now take place. On 11 October, Delhi Police Commissioner Anurag Kumar put a standing order into effect, drawing on findings put forward by a panel assembled by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.

CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke argued that opposition to the gatherings ran deeper than any question of location, adding that the entire country would become a site of demonstration. Fellow CJP member Saurav Das described the move as unacceptable and raised questions about whether the Ministry of Home Affairs had sought input from citizens, stakeholders, or organisations beforehand. Dipke and Das, both affiliated with CJP, visited the Parliament Street police station to seek a revised date that would permit their group's planned protest at Jantar Mantar to proceed.

Around 20,000 paramilitary troops already stationed in Delhi had their posting extended by one month, with the decision coming through the Ministry of Home Affairs. Security reviews of the three newly designated protest venues were completed by the relevant authorities. Transit access across the metro network was disrupted at a number of stations while the protests were under way.

Owing to its adjacency to Parliament, government offices, and the residences of senior constitutional officeholders, the New Delhi district was identified as a priority zone for security planning. Speaking at BJP headquarters, party MP Anurag Thakur put forward the claim that Rahul Gandhi's actions posed a threat to national stability and were undermining constitutional bodies. Thakur contended that Gandhi's conduct — encompassing his public statements, street protests, and repeated use of the term "vote chori" — undermined the electoral verdict and damaged India's standing abroad, while characterising Gandhi's overall political style as "hawa hawai" and questioning whether his various claims and actions carried substantive weight.

Members of the Youth Congress distributed Batman-themed masks to people taking part in the march. Photos captured Gandhi holding one of the masks, while a separate image documented him helping Kharge put one on. The National Students' Union of India (NSUI) posted a photograph of Gandhi on X, captioning it with a reference to "Batman Mode" being activated and a colloquial Hindi phrase indicating that Gyanesh had departed.