Defying heavy security clampdowns and the detention of Cockroach Janta Party leaders, thousands of student and youth activists mounted decentralized, pop-up protests across Connaught Place, Patel Chowk, and Mandi House on Saturday. Over 7,000 protesters were detained by Delhi Police across the capital and moved to makeshift stadium detention centers, where secondary demonstrations erupted, even as the INDIA bloc announced a joint march to the Supreme Court on October 12 demanding CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation over the SIR roll revisions.

In an unprecedented preventive operation, Delhi Police on Saturday detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke and co-conveners Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka directly inside their aircraft upon landing at IGI Airport from Mumbai. Bundled into waiting police vehicles on the tarmac, the leaders were taken to undisclosed locations as security forces rounded up thousands of demonstrators and maintained an expansive transit dragnet across the national capital to foil planned protests demanding the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar.

A Delhi court on Saturday dismissed a petition filed by Cockroach Janta Party legal wing head Ratna Singh alleging wrongful confinement by Delhi Police outside her Jangpura residence. Rejecting the plea seeking an FIR under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, Chief Judicial Magistrate Abhinav Pandey held that the application suffered from procedural defects, lacked a supporting affidavit, and failed to identify the specific police officers involved, even as security forces enforced widespread preventive detentions across the capital over the ongoing SIR controversy.

Delhi has been placed under heavy security and transport curbs ahead of a planned October 10 protest by the Cockroach Janta Party at Jantar Mantar demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The Delhi Metro suspended entry and exit at 57 major stations, the New Delhi station interchange was shut, and long-distance trains were cancelled, drawing scrutiny from the Supreme Court as over 23,000 security personnel enforced prohibitory orders across the capital.

Simmering resentment has surfaced within the West Bengal BJP following the nomination of former Trinamool Congress MP and actor Koel Mallick for the upcoming Rajya Sabha by-election. Accompanied by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and state president Samik Bhattacharya during her filing, Mallick’s swift induction has faced fierce pushback from party old-timers who label her a political opportunist, even as the state leadership justifies the choice on the grounds of legislative realpolitik and Upper House strength.

Veteran actor and BJP leader Mithun Chakraborty has been appointed as an Advisor to the Government of West Bengal with the rank of a Cabinet Minister in the Information and Cultural Affairs Department. Announced by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari during the Uttam Kumar centenary celebrations, the appointment entrusts the three-time National Award-winning star with guiding the state’s cultural initiatives, film festival curation, and tourism development.