Upwards of 700 people were taken into custody across Delhi on Friday — among them leaders from the Aam Aadmi Party, student activists, and representatives of youth organisations — as Opposition groups and student bodies gathered publicly to call for the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, citing what they described as irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.

Authorisation for the planned assembly in central Delhi was withheld by police, who also put movement and gathering restrictions in place across the area. Extra personnel and barricades were positioned around Jantar Mantar and nearby areas after authorities stated that no authorisation had been issued for the assembly. Movement restrictions were put in place across the New Delhi district as officers broadcast repeated appeals over loudspeakers urging the public to stay away from the assembly point.

Among those taken into custody at Jantar Mantar were AAP figures Saurabh Bharadwaj and Sanjeev Jha, with the group of detainees also including Atishi, who previously held the post of Delhi chief minister, and Sanjay Singh, a Rajya Sabha MP. Officers intercepted Singh at North Avenue while he was making his way toward the demonstration area.

Roughly 700 SFI members heading toward Jantar Mantar were intercepted by officers at the Ashoka Road roundabout, with a number taken into custody. Members affiliated with AISA, SFI, NSUI, and a range of youth and student groups were taken into police custody at Jantar Mantar and nearby locations.

Figures from various accounts placed the total number of people taken into custody at upwards of 500, a tally that varied across police assessments as the process of detaining individuals was still under way.

Crowds gathered to call for Kumar's removal from office, citing what they described as procedural irregularities in the SIR exercise alongside the removal of voters from electoral rolls. The Election Commission has denied any procedural wrongdoing, contending that all rulings were reached through established channels.

Police took Vinod Jakhar, who holds the national presidency of the NSUI, into custody alongside a number of the organisation's other members as they moved along the route from the group's office toward Jantar Mantar. Jakhar stated that members of the organisation had faced police action during their activities, and that the group intended to press on with its non-violent push for democratic reform.

Placards calling for accountability were hoisted alongside face coverings printed with images of Kumar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as IYC members set off from their Raisina Road office toward Jantar Mantar. Uday Bhanu Chib, who leads the IYC, put forward the view that safeguarding the integrity of each vote falls within the Election Commission's mandate, and that outstanding questions about decisions affecting the electoral roll deserve a clear public accounting.

Among the groups lending their presence to the gathering were AISA, SFI, and a range of other student and youth bodies. Members of AISA contended that officers resorted to physical force during the arrests, with female demonstrators among those affected.

AAP's Saurabh Bharadwaj pointed to applications his party had submitted about a week prior, questioning the basis on which permission was being sought at all for an assembly at Jantar Mantar. Those gathered in protest were, in his view, acting within their entitlement as citizens to voice concerns about how the vote had been conducted.

Blocked from accessing Jantar Mantar, Sanjay Singh announced plans to stage a demonstration at the Mahatma Gandhi statue within the Parliament complex, where he also put forward concerns about the integrity of the electoral process.

Bus and rail networks felt the knock-on effects of the heightened security arrangements put in place. Several underground stations across central Delhi — Rajiv Chowk, Central Secretariat, and Jantar Mantar among them — had their boarding and alighting points closed by the metro operator, a move that coincided with mobile data and internet access going dark in the vicinity of the protest location.

Broader coordination among political parties, student bodies, and civil society organisations underpinned the protest, with objections directed at both the SIR process and the conduct of the Election Commission. In Mumbai, an independent drive calling for Kumar to step down has been formally declared.