Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke has announced a nationwide agitation from October 2 over alleged irregularities in electoral rolls, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and greater accountability in the functioning of the Election Commission.
Dipke on Thursday said the agitation will begin with a protest in Mumbai on Gandhi Jayanti and will subsequently be taken to different parts of the country before culminating in a sit-in at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. The CJP’s demands include freezing the 2025 electoral roll, holding elections on its basis and introducing a transparent process for appointing the next Election Commissioner.
“The CJP’s three principal demands are the resignation of Kumar, freezing of the electoral roll prepared in 2025 and holding elections on the basis of that roll, and a transparent and independent process for appointing the next Election Commissioner, with participation from civil society,” he said.
Deep Dive
What are the specific demands of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) regarding the resignation of Gyanesh Kumar?
Why is the CJP planning a nationwide protest starting on October 2?
How does the CJP view the impact of the electoral roll deletions on future elections?
This comes amid the ongoing political row over the functioning of the Election Commission of India (ECI) following a report in a national daily which claimed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections at least 14 times over 10 months regarding decisions and procedures related to the SIR exercise.
Dipke said that the agitation will continue until Kumar resigns. “People have completely lost faith in the electoral process,” Dipke said.
{{/usCountry}}Dipke said that the agitation will continue until Kumar resigns. “People have completely lost faith in the electoral process,” Dipke said.
{{/usCountry}}Questioning the revision of electoral rolls, he alleged that the government was deciding who would remain on the voters’ list. He also alleged that the Election Commission was functioning under the influence of the political executive.
Dipke claimed that around 13 crore voters were deleted from electoral rolls since 2024. He linked the alleged deletions to the close vote-share difference between the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the opposition INDIA bloc in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and argued that large-scale changes to electoral rolls could have implications for election outcomes.
He also alleged that the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls had raised questions about voters’ rights. “There is only an illusion of democracy right now,” he said.
Appealing to protesters to avoid carrying political party flags or banners and describing the proposed protest as a citizens’ movement, Dipke said the CJP would not withdraw its protest even if members faced arrest.
Dipke also rejected suggestions that the CJP was aligning with the Congress or any other political party. “We are not joining hands with any political party,” he said.
He welcomed the support expressed by Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray and said political ideologies should be kept aside when citizens’ voting rights were concerned.
He also said the INDIA alliance should raise allegations concerning electoral irregularities, while maintaining that the CJP itself was not taking assistance from any political party.
The CJP has announced its first protest at 4 pm on October 2 near Gate No. 6 of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Park in Mumbai. Dipke said he did not expect any confrontation with the police and expressed confidence that the authorities would cooperate.
The CJP founder also criticised the handling of student grievances, particularly allegations of examination irregularities and paper leaks in recruitment examinations. He questioned the decision to proceed with interviews and publish a provisional list despite allegations of a paper leak, saying the concerns of students had not been adequately addressed.
Meanwhile, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)’s Tejaswi Yadav, Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah and Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary MA Baby were among the leaders from 21 Opposition parties who met in New Delhi on September 30 to chalk out a joint strategy for the next stage of political action against Kumar.