IndiaPosted at: Oct 2 2026 4:44PM


CPI(M) flays Jantar Mantar detentions, demands end to SIR

New Delhi, Oct 2 (UNI) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Friday condemned the detention of hundreds of youth and student protesters in Delhi who gathered at Jantar Mantar to demand the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging that the authorities were curbing the constitutional right to protest.
In a statement issued by its Polit Bureau, the CPI(M) said hundreds of activists associated with the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) and other youth and student organisations assembled at Jantar Mantar despite heavy police deployment and the denial of permission for the demonstration.
The party alleged that Delhi Police had “converted the entire city into a fortress” and detained people attempting to reach the protest venue. It further alleged that protesters were manhandled and pushed into police buses, with several sustaining injuries.
The CPI(M) said the demonstrators were demanding the “immediate ouster” of CEC Gyanesh Kumar and accused him of having played a role in turning the Election Commission of India into “a back office of the BJP’s election work”.
The demonstration took place against the backdrop of an intensifying political dispute over the functioning of the Election Commission and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Opposition parties and various civil society, youth and student organisations have questioned aspects of the revision exercise and sought greater transparency, while the Election Commission has maintained that SIR is aimed at ensuring accurate electoral rolls by identifying and addressing ineligible, duplicate or otherwise erroneous entries.
The CPI(M) said its General Secretary M A Baby and veteran leader Brinda Karat were among those detained, along with DYFI General Secretary Himagnaraj Bhattacharya, DYFI president and MP A A Rahim, SFI General Secretary Srijan Bhattacharya, SFI president Adarsh M Saji and SFI joint secretary and former JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh.
“The fact that it took more than two hours for the police to detain all the DYFI and SFI activists itself demonstrates the stiff resistance put up by the youth,” the party said.
Criticising the denial of permission for the demonstration, the CPI(M) said Jantar Mantar was a designated site for protests and argued that preventing people from assembling there undermined their constitutional right to peaceful protest.
The party alleged that the BJP-led union government was presiding over a wider curtailment of democratic rights. “Under the BJP-led union government, democratic rights are being drastically curtailed,” it said, adding that the denial of permission to protest at Jantar Mantar demonstrated what it described as the government’s intolerance towards dissent.
The CPI(M) congratulated the youth, students and others who participated in the demonstration despite the restrictions and said its campaign for the neutrality of State institutions, including the Election Commission, would continue.
“The movement to save democracy, and for the neutrality of State institutions such as the ECI will continue,” the party said, appealing to people to join the ongoing mobilisation.
The CPI(M) Polit Bureau demanded the immediate removal of CEC Gyanesh Kumar, an end to the SIR exercise and the release of all protesters detained during Friday’s demonstration. The demands come amid continuing opposition criticism of the Election Commission’s handling of electoral-roll revisions and its broader functioning. UNI SKA AAB
Tags: #CPI(M) flays Jantar Mantar detentions# demands end to SIR
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