The Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) has issued a fresh 24-hour ultimatum seeking the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, warning of nationwide protests if he fails to step down by Saturday.
CJP founder Abhijeet Deepke said the party would launch a nationwide agitation from Mumbai on October 2, Gandhi Jayanti, if Kumar does not resign. He said the protest would subsequently be expanded to other cities, with the party also threatening an indefinite sit-in in Delhi, which it described as “Jantar Mantar 2.0”.
The announcement comes amid an ongoing political debate over the Election Commission and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. As part of its “Fix Election Commission” campaign, the CJP has claimed that more than 13 crore names were excluded from draft electoral rolls during the SIR exercise across 30 states and Union Territories.
According to the party, more than two crore names each were affected in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, while Karnataka saw around one crore exclusions. Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Telangana, Delhi and Kerala allegedly saw 97 lakh, 90 lakh, 73 lakh, 47 lakh and 24 lakh names affected, respectively. These figures and allegations have been made by the CJP and have not been independently verified.
Deepke alleged irregularities in the electoral process and said the Election Commission must explain whether every deletion was carried out through a legal, transparent and reviewable process.
The CJP has also cited reports of Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi raising objections over certain SIR-related matters. The Election Commission, however, has said differences during internal deliberations are normal and that final decisions were taken unanimously.
