CJP says will launch 'nationwide protests' from October 2 if CEC Gyanesh Kumar doesn’t quit by Saturday

The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has threatened to launch nationwide protests from October 2 if Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar does not resign by Saturday, September 26, according to a statement issued by the movement's founder Abhijit Dipke on Friday.

Dipke said the protests would begin in Mumbai on Gandhi Jayanti and subsequently spread to cities across India.

Also read: Gyanesh Kumar CEC controversy: Oppn cries ‘act of treason’, arrest calls as alleged 14 internal objections within EC ignite SIR row


“If Gyanesh Kumar does not resign by tomorrow, CJP will begin its nationwide protest from Mumbai on 2 October, and take it to cities across India. This Gandhi Jayanti let’s pledge to save democracy.”

CJP escalates pressure on CEC

Addressing a press conference in New Delhi on Thursday, Dipke accused Kumar of undermining voters' rights and alleged irregularities in the electoral process. CJP also launched a nationwide “Election Commission Thik Karo” campaign and demanded that upcoming elections be frozen, along with a rollback of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) to its 2025 status.

Dipke also called for criminal proceedings against the Chief Election Commissioner and argued that Opposition parties should reconsider participating in elections if they believe the electoral process is being manipulated.

“If Gyanesh Kumar does not resign by tomorrow, CJP will begin its nationwide protest from Mumbai on 2 October, and take it to cities across India. This Gandhi Jayanti let’s pledge to save democracy.”

Also read: The case on India's top election body before the Supreme Court, the controversy and what comes next | Explained

Why ECI is under scrutiny

The CJP's demands come amid controversy over the Election Commission's handling of electoral-roll revisions after an Indian Express investigation reported 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 said were issued without their knowledge. Four objections were reportedly made on a single day.

The reported objections included issues related to changes to Form 6, centralisation of electoral-roll controls, voter deletion appeals in West Bengal and the failure to add some eligible voters to the rolls in Goa.

The Election Commission has disputed the report's implications, with EC officials saying that decisions taken by the poll panel, including those relating to the SIR, had the approval of all three election commissioners.