Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal stated on October 12 that a march to the Supreme Court organised by the INDIA bloc was intended to defend the country's democratic foundations, with opposition figures having already called on citizens to join the demonstration in the national capital.

Ahead of the rally, Venugopal characterised the agitation as having grown into a wider effort to protect democratic values and called on the public to participate in large numbers. By his account, what had begun as an agitation had, at that point, taken on the character of a broader collective movement. Organisers described the movement as an effort to uphold the foundational principles and governing values on which the country was built.

Rahul Gandhi, who holds the position of Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, issued a broad call urging people across the country to stand up for democratic principles. Gandhi also called on young people, opposition parties, and civil society organisations to join the march, invoking the phrase "Daro mat" as a rallying point.

Venugopal added that although the Chief Justice of India had chosen not to receive the opposition delegation, the group remained committed to the planned march. He noted that the avenue of submitting a petition to the Supreme Court — either directly by hand or through the standard legal process — remained available to them, and that people across India were expected to join the following day. He stated that while the decision was respected, there remained a firm intention to bring the case before the Supreme Court the following day.

When INDIA bloc leaders sought a meeting with Chief Justice Surya Kant to hand over a representation on what they described as electoral irregularities, he directed them instead to file a formal petition, noting that the matter already sat before the courts. People with knowledge of the matter said opposition leaders received an email setting out the reasoning behind the decision to decline the meeting.

Arrests of protesters took place in the capital as crowds gathered to press for the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar from his post. Party leaders in the opposition voiced objections to the police operation and called on the public to take part in a march to the Supreme Court.

Speaking at the march, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor set out what he described as its objectives, citing the Constitution as the document that enshrines citizens' voting rights, their freedom to make independent political choices, and their ability to shape their own futures. In a video posted to X, Tharoor laid out the Congress party's intention to approach the Supreme Court the next day with a petition carrying four demands: suspension of the Special Intensive Revision process, annulment of the rules under which voter rolls had been altered, restoration of voting rights for those whose names had been removed, and the removal from office of the Chief Election Commissioner over the conduct of the revision.

Allegations have emerged that approximately 130 million voters were removed from electoral rolls by the Election Commission, with critics contending the body has acted outside its established legal and procedural framework.

In a statement on the police response to Saturday's demonstration, Gandhi described the participants as people who had gathered out of goodwill rather than hostility or anger. Reports indicate that those involved sustained injuries at the hands of both police officers and individuals affiliated with the BJP.

Following his release from preventive detention, Citizens for Justice and Peace activist Abhijeet Dipke told reporters that he had put his name to no bond barring him from taking part in demonstrations and that he intended to return to protest. He framed his broader grievance in the words: "This is not the India we want."

Union Minister Majumdar characterised the protests as no more than intermittent moves by the opposition rather than a broader or sustained challenge. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta attributed responsibility for unrest during the capital's protests to the Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party, Left parties, and the CJP, and praised Delhi Police for how officers handled the crowd and maintained order in the area.