Protesters in Jantar Mantar. File
| Photo Credit: Shashi Shekhar Kashyap

Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi, along with INDIA bloc MPs at Rajghat as the Opposition steps protests against CEC Gyanesh Kumar, on October 8, 2026.
| Photo Credit:
Shashi Shekhar Kashyap

The INDIA bloc will continue its protest on Friday (October 9, 2026) and is likely to march towards Rashtrapati Bhavan after assembling at Parliament House in the morning. Senior leaders, including Mamata Banerjee, may join the march, even though President Droupadi Murmu has not yet given an appointment. Following two days of face-offs with the Delhi Police, the Opposition leaders were allowed to hold a peaceful protest at Rajghat on Thursday (October 8, 2026) without being prevented from reaching there.

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Ahead of the October 10 protest in Delhi, several groups, including the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), on Thursday (October 8, 2026) alleged that protesters were being picked up from across the country. CJP co-convener Ashutosh Ranka said Deepak Baliyan, the organisation’s co-in-charge, had been detained in Rajasthan. He claimed that thousands of volunteers had been detained in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. The Students’ Federation of India (SFI) also alleged that police personnel had been visiting activists’ homes and intimidating their families to prevent them from travelling to Delhi.

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In Delhi, the police has been holding meetings in colleges, universities, and PG accommodations to ask students and citizens not to join the protest. Officials said that joining the unsanctioned protest would disrupt law and order in the New Delhi area. Police officials visited local mosques and market places in Old Delhi and announced that Section 163 of BNSS is in place in the New Delhi area, requesting citizens to not participate in the protest.

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