Geeta Pandey
Reporting from Delhi

It's Saturday afternoon at Delhi's famous Janpath Market, usually one of the busiest times of the week. But today, there's barely anyone around.

This is normally where tourists and locals come to bargain for colourful clothes, jewellery, bags, handicrafts and souvenirs. The narrow lanes are usually packed with shoppers and street vendors.

Instead, we're met by massive metal barricades and rows of police officers. The whole area has an almost lockdown-like feel.

We walk up to the police and ask if we can go inside. They refuse, even after we show them our press passes.

It's not just journalists being turned away. One disappointed tourist tells me: "I wish I'd done my shopping yesterday. Now I won't be able to."

It's a striking scene in one of Delhi's most popular markets, as the heavy security restrictions surrounding today's planned protest bring parts of the capital to a near standstill.

Student activist Neha Bora, who has been detained by Delhi Police, has urged people to gather at the Safdarjung flyover, a key transit point in the capital, and hold a sit-in protest.

“I am in detention. The movement is not,” Bora wrote in a post on X. "If you can, reach. If you are stopped, sit down where you are and hold the line."

It's not clear where Bora, who uses they/them pronouns, was posting from.

Mamata Banerjee, the former chief minister of India’s West Bengal state, has been detained by the police in Delhi’s South Avenue along with other leaders of her Trinamool Congress party, PTI news agency has reported.

The opposition leaders had staged a sit-in protest earlier in the day after they were stopped from marching towards central Delhi, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

South Avenue is about 3.5 km (2.2 miles) from Jantar Mantar, the proposed venue for a separate protest by the Cockroach Janta Party.

Image source, Getty Images

Geeta Pandey
Reporting from Delhi

Journalists had gathered near Jantar Mantar at the start of the day to cover the protest, but most left hours later, saying they did not expect much to happen there.

By the time we left the area, police and paramilitary personnel were still on guard. Many were sitting in patches of shade, while some had gathered in small groups to chat.

The large numbers of protesters who were expected to march to Jantar Mantar had been unable to get anywhere close, but security personnel remained on alert.

Police have also been detaining protestors from different parts of the city even as hundreds continue to try and reach central Delhi.

Raghvendra Rao
BBC Hindi, reporting from Jantar Mantar

All roads leading to Jantar Mantar remain heavily barricaded.

A short while ago, prominent economist Jean Drèze arrived near the protest site and tried to stage a sit-in a few metres away, holding up a poster.

As soon as he started the protest, around seven to eight police personnel picked him up and removed him from the area. He was then put on a bus and taken away.

Some female protesters accompanying him were also detained and taken away in the same bus.

Image source, Prabhat Kumar/BBC Hindi

A spokesperson for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has described today's developments as "a few anarchist forces" trying to "hold India captive".

Sambit Patra, a BJP national spokesperson and MP, told reporters: "What is happening at Jantar Mantar, what you can see on TV and a few social media handles, is not India's story."

"India is calm and going ahead under good governance," he said.

The spokesperson further said that "anarchists" trying to bring "arson" and "violence" to the capital have failed and that "the flop show of anarchist elements has completely collapsed".

Azadeh Moshiri
Reporting from central Delhi

Every few minutes, we see police officers surrounding a protester before taking them away. Buses packed with detainees keep pulling out, with people inside banging on the windows.

Over the loudspeakers, the same warning plays on repeat - an order under Section 163 is in force, giving police powers to prohibit gatherings in the area. Protesters are being told they cannot assemble here.

Police say the protest is illegal. They say permission was sought too late, and point to the last time the CJP was allowed to hold a one-day demonstration – which went on for weeks.

Image source, Prem Boominathan/BBC

“A protest is not a one-day carnival,” one protester tells me.

The CJP's top leaders are in detention, their whereabouts still unknown. The restrictions across the capital are among the most sweeping seen in recent years.

Whether or not Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resigns, one thing is clear - these protesters have struck a nerve.

Shrikant Bangale
BBC Marathi

We've just heard that the grandmother of CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke has died, while he remains in police detention.

BBC Marathi's Shrikant Bangale spoke with Abhijeet Dipke's father Bhagwan Dipke.

"My mother - Abhijeet's grandmother - passed away at our ancestral home in Hingoli district. She was 78," he said.

Savitribai Shankar Dipke had been battling a prolonged illness in Santuk Pimpri village in Maharashtra's Hingoli district, where the family has its roots.

It's unclear if Dipke has been informed about her death or whether he will be allowed to return home for her last rites.

The CJP leader was detained earlier today after arriving in Delhi for the planned protest. His whereabouts remain unclear.

Image source, UGC

Student activist Neha Bora has been detained near the Safdarjung airport flyover in south Delhi.

It comes after Bora called on protesters to gather at Dilli Haat, close to the flyover, saying: "Dilli Haat becomes our Jantar Mantar! Gyanesh Kumar must go!"

Local media outlet The Hindu has posted on social media that the bus carrying Bora and other detainees has been stopped by a crowd of protesters at the flyover.

Bora is one of the prominent faces of India’s student and youth protests.

Image source, Getty Images

Siddhanath Ganu
BBC Marathi

At the New Delhi Railway Station, I saw hundreds of people waiting at the platform after dozens of trains were reportedly cancelled with little notice.

The station is packed with travellers sitting, eating and even sleeping as they wait for updates on their journeys. Many say they arrived early to avoid disruption, but internet restrictions in the area mean they are unable to check train schedules.

Image source, Namdev Katkar/BBC Marathi

Among them is Manjeet Dua, who travelled from Bihar and reached Delhi early on Saturday for a job interview.

"I cannot take the metro, there were no buses available, and internet restrictions mean I cannot book a cab either," he says.

"I have nothing to do with the protest, but I still have to suffer."

Dua says he is camping at the station for now because he is worried about being stopped by police outside. "People are being detained, so I’ve decided to stay here until things are clear," he says.

Image source, Namdev Katkar/BBC Marathi

Image source, Getty Images

In Delhi, roads have been barricaded and tens of thousands of security personnel deployed in a bid to stop the latest Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) demonstration.

The group says its founder Abhijeet Dipke was detained, along with two other leaders, shortly after arriving in India's capital city from Mumbai. Authorities are yet to comment on the detentions.

As he boarded the flight to Delhi, Dipke had said: "If you think you can stop us by threatening us with jail or trying to intimidate us with the fear of imprisonment, you are mistaken."

He started the movement in May, almost as a joke, in response to a remark by India's Chief Justice Surya Kant, who had likened jobless youngsters to "cockroaches".

The CJP is demanding electoral reforms and the resignation of India's chief election commissioner over allegations of irregularities in voter lists - allegations the Election Commission denies.

Despite efforts to halt the protest, including Delhi police refusing permission for the demonstration, the CJP says it will go ahead at Jantar Mantar.

The BBC's Geeta Pandey, who is at the scene, describes police officers forming human chains, drones flying overhead and huge metal barricades. There is little sign of anyone being allowed anywhere near the protest site, she reports.

Some journalists have also reportedly faced police action. Indian news outlets Newslaundry and Scroll say their reporters were detained while covering events.

News outlet Newslaundry says its three journalists detained by the Delhi Police have been released.

Newslaundry alleged that its reporters were driven around Delhi for more than an hour before being released. "We will continue to report," it wrote on X.

The journalists were detained earlier today, with Newslaundry also alleging that police had seized their work phones. The police has not commented on this.

Abhijeet Dipke and other prominent faces may be detained, but the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) says someone else is ready to lead today's protest in Delhi.

The group says its organisation in-charge, Ajinkya Shinde, will take charge of the planned gathering at Jantar Mantar.

Dipke appeared to have seen this coming. "If you're watching this video, it means we have already been arrested," he said in a message recorded on Friday night and shared by the CJP on X a short while ago.

We have been reporting that it is not clear where Dipke and two other detained CJP leaders are. Police have also been turning away or detaining protesters at the planned protest site. We will bring you more updates on the protests as we get them.

As we've been reporting, Abhijeet Dipke, the leader of the Cockroach movement, has been detained after flying from Mumbai to Delhi for the protest.

"It was nice to know you all. You can see where the nation is heading. They are here to arrest us directly from the flight," he says as authorities board the plane he and other movement leaders are travelling on.

"This is dictatorship," he says, in a video posted online by the Cockroach Janta Party.

"Come arrest us. We are here to be arrested," he says in Hindi to the approaching officers. "We are not afraid of you."

The officers then approach him, and ask the person filming to put their phone down. "You've been denied the permission to protest," an officer says.

The Cockroach Janta Party says Dipke and other movement leaders have been detained. Their whereabouts remain unclear, and authorities in Delhi have not confirmed the detentions or provided details.

Before his detention, Dipke said on social media that the mass detention of protesters and the shutdown of Delhi were "not signs of strength, but of a leader terrified of his own people".

We've just heard more from the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) about its three leaders detained by police earlier today.

The group alleges its founder, Abhijeet Dipke, along with Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, have been taken to an undisclosed location.

It claims the three are being denied access to lawyers and have been cut off from contact with others.

We had reported earlier that its not clear where the three men are after they were detained from the flight they were on.

Delhi Police have yet to publicly comment on the allegation.

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

At the centre of today's protests and the crackdown is one name: Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Under Kumar's leadership, India's election commission has undertaken a mammoth exercise to update electoral rolls nationwide - it said this was a routine exercise to weed out dead, duplicate or ineligible voters.

But in many states, the exercise has been shrouded in controversy, with tens of thousands of people alleging they have been wrongly removed.

Overall, more than 130 million names have been removed from the rolls.

The Cockroach Janta Party - and opposition parties - accuse Kumar of favouring Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the way the electoral rolls are being updated.

They have also alleged irregularities in the way Kumar has been functioning, citing a recent newspaper report that said his fellow Election Commissioners had objected to decisions allegedly taken without their knowledge.

The BJP and the Election Commission have denied allegations of favouritism.

The commission also said in a statement after the report that "differing views" were a normal part of the "decision-making process".

Read more about the controversy here.

Azadeh Moshiri
Reporting from Delhi

Some protesters who were stopped and turned back from Jantar Mantar have been sitting and waiting in different parts of central Delhi. We spoke to some of them.

"Why are you detaining people who are protesting peacefully? We are only here demanding Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation. Protesting is a democratic right, but I don’t think we have that any more," one protester said.

Another said that protesters were determined to hold their ground.

"We have been coming here every day for the past week. If they manage to stop us today, we will come again tomorrow."

At least two Indian news outlets have said that their journalists have been detained by Delhi Police while covering today's protest in the capital.

Newslaundry said three of its reporters - Ashwine Singh, Savyasachi Astha and Anmol Pritam - were detained and their work phones seized.

In a post on X, the outlet alleged that the journalists were put on a bus with around 30 people, including protesters.

Scroll has also reported the detention of one of its journalists.

It's unclear where the journalists have been taken or why they were detained. Delhi Police have not publicly commented on these detentions.

Former Delhi chief minister and leader of the Aam Aadmi Party Arvind Kejriwal took to X to seek the resignation of India's election chief Gyanesh Kumar.

“This is worse than the Emergency,” Kejriwal said, comparing the government’s crackdown on protesters to the time when former prime minister Indira Gandhi declared a nationwide Emergency in 1975 suspending civil liberties.

He also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying "we are living under an absolute dictatorship".

Modi has not commented on the protests or the crackdown yet, but his party leader Nitin Nabin had earlier criticised opposition parties, saying they were trying to destabilise the country.

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Over the past few days, the CJP, opposition parties and student activists have held several protests across India - including in capital Delhi. Although organised separately, the protesters had a common demand: the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Image source, Reuters

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock