Delhi 'cockroach' protest: 57 metro stations shut, mobile internet cut as youth rally against election chief

Indian authorities have shut 57 Delhi metro stations, cancelled several long-distance trains and suspended mobile internet within 4km of the protest area ahead of a youth rally in central Delhi on Saturday 10 October 2026, Al Jazeera reported. Thousands of police and paramilitary personnel have been deployed and roads to the area are blocked with layers of metal barricades.

Who is protesting and why

The rally is called by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), a youth movement that began online in May as satire after India's Chief Justice Surya Kant called unemployed young people "cockroaches", which caused outrage across the country. Its chief is Abhijeet Dipke.

The protest targets Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Protesters want him to resign over a revision of the voter lists that has removed more than 130 million names. The Election Commission says the revision removes duplicate and ineligible voters, including what it calls foreign illegal immigrants. Critics say it has hit poor, marginalised and minority communities hardest. Pressure grew after the Indian Express reported that Kumar's two deputies had raised concerns at least 14 times in 10 months.

The Election Commission and the ruling BJP deny the allegations; the BJP says the opposition is misleading the country because it cannot win elections.

The ban

Police did not allow the rally at Jantar Mantar, the site normally set aside for protests in Delhi, saying the request came late and that the CJP broke undertakings at earlier protests. They have warned of a forceful response if the ban is defied. The CJP says at least 10,000 people have been detained across India, some on trains to Delhi, and accuses the government of shutting down the capital instead of allowing a protest. India's Supreme Court said some trains must keep running and that a blanket metro closure was unlikely.

Neha Bora, national president of the All India Students' Association and a leading face of the protests, told Al Jazeera: "You can detain the people, you cannot detain the movement."

Why it matters beyond Delhi

India goes to state elections, including Uttar Pradesh, its most populous state, in early 2027, and the size of the voter-list cut is now a national political fight. Youth protests have already forced one resignation this year: India's education minister quit in July over exam paper leaks.

For readers in Pakistan, the internet suspension is the detail drawing comparisons: mobile data cuts around protests have been a regular tool here too. If you have family or business contacts in Delhi, expect calls on mobile data and WhatsApp to fail near the centre of the city until the suspension lifts on Saturday night, Indian time (half an hour ahead of Pakistan).

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