On Gandhi Jayanti, a visible police presence and barricading around Jantar Mantar limited access for those who had gathered to demonstrate against the Election Commission's conduct. Restrictions under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) took effect across the Parliament Street subdivision, the area where the demonstration had been taking place.
Under the directive, gatherings of five or more people were not permitted, nor were public meetings, processions, demonstrations, or dharnas. Those in affected areas were additionally barred from carrying weapons such as lathis, spears, swords, sticks, or brickbats — as well as firearms — and from displaying banners or placards, raising slogans, or delivering speeches.
Under Section 163, restrictions covered the broader subdivision while leaving a designated area open for gatherings of up to five hours, provided organisers had obtained the necessary authorisation beforehand. Access to the gathering point was cut off, leaving those who had assembled unable to make their way into the area.
Large contingents drawn from Delhi Police, the CAPF, and the RAF took up positions at Jantar Mantar's two principal access routes — the approach from Sansad Marg and the corridor leading in from the Kerala House side. Buses and police PCR vans were positioned among the layered security arrangements put in place around the demonstration area.
Entrances at a dozen points along the metro network — Patel Chowk, Janpath, Rajiv Chowk, Mandi House, and Central Secretariat among them, each lying in proximity to where the demonstration was taking place — were closed to travellers, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation said. Passenger interchange options stayed in place across those stations, with New Delhi standing as the lone exception.
Authorities took more than 500 people into custody during the demonstrations, among them former Delhi Chief Minister Atishi. When internet connectivity went down, vendors and delivery workers in the surrounding area found themselves unable to complete UPI transactions.
Three roads — Ashoka Road, Jantar Mantar Road, and Sansad Marg — were closed off to public transport traffic. People waiting at bus stops were told to move on, while those travelling through the area faced diversions along alternative routes.
Roughly 4,000 personnel were stationed across Jantar Mantar and the surrounding streets, according to official figures. Aerial surveillance assets were deployed to track conditions across the affected area.
Two separate columns took shape that day — one assembled under the banner of the Students' Federation of India and the Democratic Youth Federation of India at Mandi House, while the National Students' Union of India gathered its contingent at Raisina Road before setting off. Volunteers from the All India Students' Association fanned out across the neighbourhood that morning, mapping passable routes through the area.
Scouting potential paths and narrowing them down to a handful of options had been part of the preparation, Sai Balaji — a CPI(ML) member who previously headed AISA at the national level — noted, adding that those routes were being blocked off one by one as the day progressed. "The group settled on departing from the area near the Vice President's residence," he noted, adding that the column of participants had grown to at least 350 people by the time authorities began making arrests.
Yogendra Yadav, who attended the march in his capacity as a political activist and psephologist, told reporters that the young participants showed resolve by turning out despite anticipating detention, adding that their collective aim was the removal of Gyanesh Kumar from his post.
Neha Bora, the national president of AISA, joined Yogendra Yadav and a large number of demonstrators in a march toward the site from Patel Chowk, only for police to stop the group before it could pass Samrat Ashok Chowk. Aam Aadmi Party's Delhi unit president Saurabh Bharadwaj and MP Sanjay Singh made their way to Janpath Lane at roughly 10.30 a.m., where officers took both of them into custody.
The party contended that the enforcement action puts the viability of political opposition at stake. In a post on X, AAP leader and former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia stated that the demonstration targets Gyanesh Kumar, and that Amit Shah is working to suppress it.
A statement attributed to DYFI characterised the Delhi Police as intent on silencing calls for Gyanesh Kumar's resignation, while party workers who lay down on the road in an act of protest against detention were subsequently taken into custody.
Bora and a number of others found an opening to exit the vehicles at the outset, yet found themselves taken into custody on repeated occasions as the hours passed. A group of officers who wore no identifying nameplates moved in to physically detain her and the other demonstrators.
Roughly 500 members of the Indian Youth Congress gathered at the location as dusk fell. Roughly 50 of those individuals were taken into custody after also being brought to a halt.
Between 20 and 25 vehicles — a mix of buses and vans — transported the hundreds of people who had been detained away from the area, as access roads leading to Jantar Mantar remained blocked off throughout Gandhi Jayanti.
