Opposition leaders in India were detained in Delhi on October 10.
They included two former or current chief ministers.
The protest demanded the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner.
The ruling BJP dismissed the protest as having flopped.
Some leaders were released by evening.
Kerala’s former chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, MA Baby and John Brittas were taken to Chhatrasal Stadium and then to Mandir Marg police station, according to Brittas as cited by The Federal.
Manik Sarkar and Elamaram Kareem were detained at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Bawana, according to The Federal.
CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, lawyer Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav were also among those detained, according to Al Jazeera.
The CPI(M) alleged that its leaders were manhandled and denied food, water and medication, and that two of its leaders were injured, which are party allegations.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said on X that the Modi government had turned the Mother of Democracy into a Muzzled Democracy, according to Al Jazeera.
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra dismissed the demonstrators as anarchic elements, said the protest had flopped and said that India was calm under good governance, according to Al Jazeera.
The protests were called against the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, which the Election Commission describes as routine.
More than 30,000 security personnel were deployed, with barricades across central Delhi, according to The Federal.
Counts of those detained varied from hundreds to more than 7,000 in different reports and could not be reconciled.
The INDIA bloc submitted a memorandum to President Droupadi Murmu on October 9 and has planned a mega protest on October 12, according to reports.
On October 6, INDIA bloc MPs marched towards the Election Commission and were stopped by police.
Opposition leaders were detained by Delhi Police on Saturday, October 10, 2026, during protests demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Parliament building, New Delhi (file image), Wikimedia Commons, GODL-India
