The Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) will begin a nationwide protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar from Mumbai on October 2 if he does not resign by tomorrow (September 26), founder Abhijeet Dipke said.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Abhijeet Dipke said the protest would begin on Gandhi Jayanti and subsequently spread to cities across India.
“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," Abhijeet Dipke said, adding, “This Gandhi Jayanti let’s pledge to save democracy."
The fresh post came a day after the CJP gave Gyanesh Kumar a 48-hour ultimatum to resign, accusing the Election Commission of undermining voters’ rights through its handling of electoral-roll revisions and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
At a press conference in New Delhi on Thursday, Abhijeet Dipke demanded Gyanesh Kumar’s immediate resignation and warned that the CJP would launch a nationwide agitation if the CEC did not step down within 48 hours. The organisation also called for an independent inquiry into the functioning of the Election Commission and demanded that the SIR exercise be frozen.
Abhijeet Dipke also demanded that upcoming elections be put on hold, the SIR exercise be frozen and the electoral rolls be restored to the January 2025 position. The CJP founder sought an independent inquiry into decisions concerning the electoral rolls and changes to the law governing the appointment of Election Commissioners
The CJP’s demands followed an Indian Express report that said Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had recorded objections on at least 14 occasions over 10 months to decisions taken in the name of the poll panel. The reported disagreements included issues related to the SIR, electoral-roll changes, deletion and restoration of voter names and access to the Election Commission’s voter-data software.
