A tense situation prevailed in the capital even before a protest demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) founder Abhijit Deepke, Sourav Das and Ashutosh Ranka at the Delhi airport as they arrived to stage a demonstration at Jantar Mantar. Amid the detention of the top leadership, the party on Saturday entrusted its organizational secretary Ajinkya Shinde with leading the protest.
Soon after the detention of the top leadership, the party released a pre-recorded video message of Abhijit Deepke. In the video, prepared late Friday night anticipating arrest, Deepke clarified that as long as the three of them remain in police custody, Ajinkya Shinde will lead the protest gathering at Jantar Mantar. Stating that he was prepared to be arrested on his way to Delhi, Deepke alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah were citing security reasons to prevent the public from participating in the protest.
Meanwhile, the administration has made security arrangements unprecedentedly tight across the capital city to thwart the protest. Delhi Police had not granted any permission for the gathering, citing law-and-order concerns and inconvenience to citizens. According to administrative guidelines, any protest at Jantar Mantar requires an application at least 10 days in advance, but the police claimed that CJP had not followed the rules. The police administration also cited previous instances where the group had violated the law by continuing programmes beyond the stipulated time during earlier agitations.
In the interest of controlling the situation, police have detained around 1,500 people under Section 65 of the Delhi Police Act. Strict traffic restrictions came into force from 6 am. Vehicular movement has been restricted by putting up barricades at important intersections and roads in central Delhi, including Connaught Place, Mandi House, Patel Chowk, Jantar Mantar, Jai Singh Road, among others. Intensive police surveillance is underway on major roads of Delhi to ensure that no unwanted gathering can take place at the protest site.
