INDIA bloc marches through Delhi, takes SIR protest to SC

On a day when Delhi Police denotified Jantar Mantar as a designated protest site, a sizeable crowd walked down arterial roads in the capital, tailing a procession of buses carrying INDIA bloc leaders from Constitution Club to the Supreme Court, where Rahul Gandhi and other top leaders of the coalition filed a petition over the alleged large-scale voter deletions and irregularities in the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Supporters seen during the march from Barakhamba to Supreme Court in New Delhi on October 12, 2026 | Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma

The Congress, on its social media handles, said 2.5 lakh people participated in the protest. The “March for Democracy”, which began at 1.30 p.m. at the Constitution Club, went on for more than four hours, mostly unhindered by police barricades and intervention, and also allowing for an occasional break for the protesters from waving flags and sloganeering at ice cream and juice carts. The march had several such light moments, including when Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge donned a Batman mask. There was heavy deployment of police, who stood on the sidelines watching.

Despite a proposal from INDIA bloc leaders that only the national flag should be flown, Congress flags dominated the scene. Flags of Left student bodies, CPI(M)’s SFI, CPI’s AISF and CPI(ML)’s AISA, could also be seen.

A majority of the protesters were Congress supporters who had travelled from different parts of the country, from Salma Begum, who came from Koraput in Odisha on her maiden trip to Delhi, to Mayank Chaudhary, a former Youth Congress leader leading a cavalcade of SUVs from Badkal, Haryana, slipping by police barricades on the way, or Sabo Meena, who came from Dausa donning a bright yellow scarf.