Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray on Saturday backed Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke’s call for a nationwide protest if Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar did not resign by Saturday. The call came amid a row over the electoral process and the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls following a media report.
On Friday, Dipke announced that he would launch a nationwide protest from Mumbai if Kumar did not resign by Saturday and expand it to cities across India on October 2. “This Gandhi Jayanti, let’s pledge to save democracy,” he wrote.
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Aaditya Thackeray joins Dipke’s protest call
Deep Dive
What are the reasons for Gyanesh Kumar's resignation demand by the CJP?
How is the CJP planning to conduct the nationwide protest on October 2?
What are the implications of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) on the electoral process?
The Shiv Sena (UBT) leader backed Dipke’s demand for Kumar’s resignation and said Mumbai “will step out” in large numbers on October 2 against “vote chori”.
Replying to Dipke’s post, he wrote, “If Gyanesh doesn’t go, Mumbai will step out against Vote Chori from 2nd October, in huge numbers!!”
Earlier on Thursday, Thackeray said the “timeline for the CEC to go has been set”. He wrote on X, “Change is coming, each one responsible for the Lost Decade of our country, must be brought to justice.”
Dipke responds to Thackeray
{{/usCountry}}Earlier on Thursday, Thackeray said the “timeline for the CEC to go has been set”. He wrote on X, “Change is coming, each one responsible for the Lost Decade of our country, must be brought to justice.”
Dipke responds to Thackeray
{{/usCountry}}Responding to the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader, the CJP founder thanked him for backing their call to “save democracy”.
“All Indians, irrespective of their political parties or ideologies, must come together against S.I.R,” Dipke posted.
Why CJP has threatened a nationwide protest on Oct 2
Dipke, the founder and national convener of the CJP, on Thursday called for CEC Gyanesh Kumar to resign and threatened a "Jantar Mantar 2.0" protest if the demand was not accepted.
His remarks came after a report by The Indian Express said that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally raised objections at least 14 times over 10 months to decisions and orders they allegedly said were taken without their knowledge.
The reported objections related to key parts of electoral-roll management, including adding, removing and restoring voters, changes to Form 6 and access to the Election Commission's electoral-roll database.
"Democracy means that people choose their government. This is not democracy, this is autocracy. Under Gyanesh Kumar, we are seeing an electoral system in which the Election Commission is deciding who remains on the voter rolls and who does not. When millions of names can disappear from draft rolls, the burden is on the Commission to establish that every exclusion is lawful, transparent and subject to meaningful review," said Dipke.
The CJP founder alleged that CEC Kumar was the "biggest threat to Indian democracy" and accused the Election Commission of deciding who would be allowed to vote.
The opposition has called for the scrapping of the SIR exercise and demanded the impeachment and arrest of Gyanesh Kumar.
The Election Commission, however, dismissed suggestions of an institutional breakdown, saying that differences of opinion, written notes, and internal checks were part of the decision-making process in a multi-member constitutional body. The poll panel has maintained that its decisions were unanimous.