No major protests by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) or the Congress party have been announced so far in the city.
Heavy security deployment continued across central Delhi on Saturday, with barricades at Jantar Mantar and additional personnel outside the Delhi Police and Election Commission of India headquarters amid the possibility of fresh protests by left-wing organisations, a day after nearly 2,000 people gathered in and around Connaught Place for the “Lehra Do Tiranga” protest.
Additional barricades have been put up on Ashoka Road and Jai Singh Road to prevent crowding, as gatherings are prohibited across the New Delhi area under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), an officer aware of the matter said.
The largest deployments of the CAPFs have been made in central Delhi, particularly in and around Jantar Mantar, Sansad Marg, the Election Commission headquarters and Connaught Place, as well as outside the residences of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, chief election commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and other key ministers. As police permission was not granted for the protest, Delhi Police and CAPF personnel were deployed in large numbers in Connaught Place and its adjoining areas from Thursday. By Friday noon, hundreds of personnel had taken over Central Park and closed all its access gates to ensure nobody entered the park.
A senior police officer said that more than 200 companies of central armed paramilitary forces (CAPFs), comprising nearly 20,000 men and women, are available with the Delhi Police to handle protests across Delhi. Nearly 10,000 Delhi Police personnel have also been kept in reserve to deal with demonstrations and marches in the city, the officers said.
On Friday evening, nearly 2,000 people gathered in and around Connaught Place for the Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP) “Lehra Do Tiranga” protest, scheduled to be held at Central Park at 5 pm. “Police deployment is still in place in Connaught Place to avoid any protest and maintain law and order as markets are open today,” another police officer said.
