A lawyer from Haryana’s Panipat has filed an application with the Election Commission of India (ECI) to register the online satirical collective Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) in his own name, separately from its US-based founder Abhijeet Dipke, people aware of the matter said on Tuesday.
Sudhir Jakhar, the lawyer calling himself the party’s national convener, submitted the application to the ECI secretary for registration under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act. The application carries the CJP’s cockroach logo and Jakhar’s designation as a lawyer. A Jakhar-registered CJP could claim its social media handles.
The CJP was launched this month amid outrage over Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant’s remarks on unemployed youth. “There are youngsters, like cockroaches, who don’t get any employment or have any place in the profession. Some of them become media, some of them become social media, RTI activists, and other activists, and they start attacking everyone.”
The CJP’s X account was withheld in India on Thursday last, five days after its launch. The CJP emerged as one of the country’s fastest-growing online trends. Its Instagram account reportedly surpassed the follower count of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Thousands of users signed up through online membership forms.
Jakhar said the party approached Dipke and urged him to return to India to register the party. He added that Dipke, who is pursuing a master’s degree at Boston University, declined to do so. “Dipke declined to come to India and convert this movement into an actual ground-level political party. Seeing the anger among the youth and the scale of what has been built, we felt that if someone else registered the name first and misused it, the entire movement would be lost. We decided to move ahead ourselves to ensure that does not happen,” Jakhar said.
{{/usCountry}}Jakhar said the party approached Dipke and urged him to return to India to register the party. He added that Dipke, who is pursuing a master’s degree at Boston University, declined to do so. “Dipke declined to come to India and convert this movement into an actual ground-level political party. Seeing the anger among the youth and the scale of what has been built, we felt that if someone else registered the name first and misused it, the entire movement would be lost. We decided to move ahead ourselves to ensure that does not happen,” Jakhar said.
{{/usCountry}}Dipke did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
Jakhar was scheduled to appear before the ECI on Tuesday to file the remaining documents. Promotion of fundamental duties under the Constitution’s Article 51A, democratic participation, social audit of governance, environmental protection, animal welfare, legal awareness, whistle blower protection, transparency, communal harmony, and peaceful democratic reforms are among the objectives of the party that Jakhar submitted to the ECI.
They differ from CJP’s original five demands, including no Rajya Sabha seats for retired Chief Justices, prosecution under anti-terror law for vote deletions, 50% women’s reservation in Parliament and Cabinet, cancellation of media licences of billionaire industrialists, and a 20-year ban on political defectors.
The ECI has the authority to determine a registered party’s authorised office-bearers under the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968. It exercised the power when the Shiv Sena and the National Congress Party split.
If approved, CJP could become a Registered Unrecognised Political Party, the category Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam had when it won 108 of 234 seats and formed the government in Tamil Nadu this month. The Aam Aadmi Party was in the same category when it came to power in Delhi in 2013.
The party’s cockroach symbol is unlikely to be approved. The ECI bars such symbols, with the sole exceptions being the lion and the elephant. Free symbols list 164 items, including a noodle bowl, a pressure cooker, and a baby walker. It does not include an insect.