India: Delhi braces for Cockroach protest amid strict curbs

Skip next section What you need to know

What you need to know

• Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke to land in New Delhi shortly ahead of protest over alleged voter list manipulation
• Around 43,000 police and paramilitary personnel are deployed in the capital, reports say
• Traffic and transport disruptions are expected

Here is our rolling coverage of developments from India on Saturday, October 10:

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Skip next section Election protests: Pressure mounts on poll chief, challenge to PM Modi

October 10, 2026

Election protests: Pressure mounts on poll chief, challenge to PM Modi

The CJP is not the only group calling for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation.

India's bloc of opposition parties, led by Congress' Rahul Gandhi, has been carrying out a sustained campaign against Kumar in recent days with its own protest marches.

The country has seen dramatic visuals emerge from Delhi's key corridor of political power, which showed leading opposition MPs, including Gandhi, being carried away to detention buses by uniformed police officials as they tried to dig their heels in. 

The ire against India's election chief —  the head of India's independent Election Commission  —  is turning into one of the biggest public and political challenges for Modi in his three-term rule. Opposition and critics allege that a mass deletion of tens of millions of voters from India's electoral rolls benefits Modi's Prime Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a charge the party denies.

https://p.dw.com/p/5O60W

Skip next section Welcome to our coverage!

October 10, 2026

Welcome to our coverage!

This is Dharvi Vaid Dhulia from DW's studio in New Delhi and this is a special edition of our daily India news blog.

As the early morning hours tick away, a countdown to a rally against India's top poll official over alleged voter list irregularities has begun in the heart of the world's largest democracy. 

What's happening?

India's 'Cockroaches' are headed once again for Jantar Mantar —  the same protest site where the online satirical movement sprung to the mainstream as a youth-led pressure group in July after it forced the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's then education minister. 

The police have denied the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) permission to hold the demonstration but the group's leaders are heralding people from all over the country to converge at Jantar Mantar, calling the protest a "fundamental right".

A showdown between police and protesters seems imminent. 

New Delhi, particularly its central areas, have essentially been turned into a fortress with a heavy security blanket — including thousands of paramilitary personnel —  a rare mobile internet blackout, train cancellations and warnings from the police against any protest assembly. 

The security arrangements come as memory is still fresh of a clash between youth demonstrators and police during the July Cockroach protest. Police used batons, tear gas and pellet-firing shotguns to disperse the agitating crowd. Several injuries were reported as the protesters alleged police brutality, while the police said it used force only after the protests stopped being peaceful. 

India's Cockroach movement alleges police brutality

We bring you all this and more. Stay with us as events unfold.