Before finalising the rally plans, CM Sheila Dikshit had held a meeting with officials from the police, traffic as well as the MCD to discuss the route. The route suggested by the party was reportedly not acceptable to the officials who had suggested alternate routes.

"No good traffic manager will suggest that the rally go through the route they took today. By using this route, we deprive road users of such busy corridors like Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, Deen Dayal Upadhyay marg and IP Estate. These roads link east and west Delhi," said DCP (traffic) P. Kamraj.

Additional Commissioner of Police (HQ) U.N.B. Rao said: ``They were allotted a different route and they have violated it. We will take action against them.'' The beginnings of the jam were visible during the office rush hour in the morning, on the road leading from Rajghat to Delhi Gate and spread quickly to as far as Vikas Marg in east Delhi.

Congress workers and supporters began gathering at the Ferozeshah Kotla grounds early. Most came in buses and trucks which were parked at Rajghat causing a jam there. Later, around 11 a.m., hundreds of Congress workers began marching towards Bhagwan Dass Road. The first intersection to be affected and the last to be cleared out several hours later was ITO.

``I boarded a bus from Arjun Nagar to Mandi house. The journey usually takes about 20 minutes but after about an hour and a half, the traffic police re-routed the bus after we came to ITO. The driver dropped us off at Pragati Maidan Gate number 4,'' a commuter said.

Traffic chaos also plagued Copernicus Marg, Sikandra Road, Safdar Hashmi Marg, Barakhamba Road and Tansen Marg, with the roads bearing the brunt of traffic diverted from the Delhi Gate and ITO crossing areas. With the rallyists walking back from the Bhawan Dass Road to Rajghat, motorists faced a repeat of the ordeal.