New Delhi, Sept. 25 -- The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has announced plans for a nationwide protest from October 2 if Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar does not resign from his post.
CJP national convener Abhijeet Dipke said the protest would begin in Mumbai on Gandhi Jayanti and subsequently spread to other cities across the country. The announcement came after the organisation demanded Kumar's resignation over what it described as concerns relating to voter rights and the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The organisation had earlier given Kumar 48 hours to step down. Dipke said that if the CEC did not resign within the stipulated period, the group would begin its nationwide campaign. The CJP had also warned of a fresh protest in Delhi, describing it as "Jantar Mantar 2.0".
The CJP has called for an independent investigation into decisions taken during the SIR exercise. It has also sought identification of officials who authorised the changes and directives that the organisation has questioned. The organisation has demanded that SIR-related exclusions be stopped and that the January 2025 electoral rolls be secured. It has further called for relevant SIR records and files to be transferred either to the Supreme Court or to an independent inquiry under judicial supervision. The demands come amid controversy over reported differences within the Election Commission. Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi were reported to have recorded objections on at least 14 occasions over a 10-month period concerning decisions and orders linked to electoral-roll revision.
The reported objections included issues involving voter additions and deletions, changes to Form 6, centralisation of electoral-roll data and related technology systems. The two commissioners also reportedly raised concerns over changes in the Election Commission's IT-related work. The Election Commission has maintained that observations and objections raised during internal deliberations do not necessarily indicate disagreement over the final decisions of the full commission. The poll panel has said that differences of opinion and suggestions are part of institutional decision-making and that commissioners and authorised officials can put forward their views before a final decision is taken. The CJP has linked its demands to the ongoing SIR exercise and raised concerns over the exclusion of voters from electoral rolls. It has also questioned the use of centralised software and the handling of electoral-roll data, seeking greater transparency over decisions concerning voter registration, deletion and access to electoral information.
The organisation has further called for the Election Commission to make the relevant objection notes and its responses public, arguing that this would allow the competing claims about the internal decision-making process to be examined. Dipke also criticised Opposition parties for continuing to contest elections while alleging that electoral processes were being compromised. He argued that participating in what he described as "rigged elections" legitimises the process. These statements represent the CJP's position and have not been established as facts. The CJP's latest announcement sets October 2 as the proposed start date for its nationwide protest if Kumar does not resign. The organisation said the campaign would begin in Mumbai before expanding to other cities.
Its demands include Kumar's resignation, an independent inquiry into SIR-related decisions, a halt to further exclusions and preservation of electoral-roll records. The announcement comes amid continuing scrutiny of the Election Commission's handling of electoral-roll revision and reported differences between members of the three-member poll panel.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.