Supreme Court Tells Centre Not to Shut Delhi Metro as Youth Protest Against Election Chief Looms

The hearing came as Delhi prepared for a heavy security operation. According to Outlook, Delhi Police refused the CJP permission to protest at Jantar Mantar, citing short notice — its guidelines require ten days — alleged violations of undertakings given at an earlier demonstration, and the law-and-order situation. Prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita are in force in New Delhi.

Outlook reported that the plan included closing entry and exit gates at 57 Metro stations and that more than 20,000 Delhi Police and paramilitary personnel were being deployed, mainly in central Delhi. The Railway Board also ordered the cancellation of mail and express trains due to arrive at New Delhi and Hazrat Nizamuddin stations between 4 am and 2 pm on October 10, though the railways did not say this was linked to the protest.

In court, the bench questioned the scale of these measures. Justice Bagchi asked how stations could be shut from 9 am when train frequency was only being reduced. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court the Metro was not being shut entirely and that the Centre would ask authorities to reconsider and run services in a regulated way.

The government also told the court that an earlier protest, permitted for one day, had continued for 17 days and that more than 200 police personnel had been injured in a previous confrontation. Lawyers appearing on the other side alleged that police had visited mosques to discourage people from joining the protest. The bench did not rule on either set of claims and said the authorities would have to be heard.

The dispute behind the protest

The protest grows out of a months-long controversy over the Election Commission of India. As The Week reported in its October cover story, the Commission's two other members, Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, reportedly recorded objections at least a dozen times in under a year. The reported objections concerned voter additions and deletions, appeals, Form 6, access to the electoral-roll database and the technology used to manage the rolls.

Much of the anger centres on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, which began in Bihar in June 2025 and later expanded to other states. Critics, including former Chief Election Commissioners, have questioned the documentary burden placed on new voters. Congress has demanded Kumar's resignation, and CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke has called him a threat to Indian democracy.

The Commission's position, as reported by The Week, is that differences of opinion are normal in a multi-member body and that its final decisions, including the SIR order, were unanimous. At a September 26 meeting attended by all three commissioners, it announced it would circulate agendas in advance and issue minutes, and it has ordered an independent review of its electoral-roll software. The government and the BJP reject the argument that disagreements within the Commission point to an institutional crisis.

What to watch

The protest itself takes place on Saturday, October 10, and the Centre's response to the court's suggestion of an alternative venue will shape how it unfolds. Commuters are advised to check Delhi Metro and traffic police advisories before travelling.