India’s Cockroach Janta Party Gives Election Chief 48 Hours to Quit, Threatens Nationwide Protests 

Just when you thought the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls couldn’t get more contentious, a new twist has landed. The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has told Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to resign within 48 hours, or face protests across the country.

The ultimatum

Speaking at a press conference in New Delhi on September 24, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke didn’t mince words. Kumar should step down, he said, and if he doesn’t, the group will take to the streets nationwide. That’s not all. The CJP also wants an independent probe into how the Election Commission works, and a freeze on upcoming Assembly elections. Party leaders say the planned demonstrations will build on the momentum of their earlier protests at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, this time with electoral rolls and voters’ rights at the centre.

What set this off

The pressure has been building since The Indian Express published an investigation. According to the report, Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi raised objections at least 14 times over 10 months on decisions tied to the electoral rolls. The concerns reportedly touched on adding voters, deleting them, restoring names, and how voter data was being handled during the SIR exercise. Why does this matter so much? Because electoral rolls decide who gets to vote. If names are added, removed or restored the wrong way, the effects can ripple out to voters in many states.

The Commission’s response

The Election Commission isn’t buying the idea that something is broken. It says disagreement is a normal part of life in a multi-member constitutional body, and that every final decision on SIR was taken unanimously, with all three Election Commissioners on board. So the two sides are telling different stories. One points to the objections raised behind closed doors, the other to the unanimous outcome. Several opposition leaders have jumped in, calling for closer scrutiny of both the CEC and the SIR process.

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Who is the CJP?

The CJP is a fairly new youth pressure group that made national headlines earlier this year with protests over examination-related issues and other concerns of young people. That agitation demanded exam reforms and the resignation of then Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. It ended after Pradhan stepped down and the government gave assurances on several demands. Now the group has turned its attention to electoral reform, which could make this confrontation matter well beyond the 48-hour deadline.

What to watch

For ordinary voters, the question is simple: are changes to the electoral rolls being made accurately and transparently, and can people challenge decisions that affect them?

Whether the nationwide protests actually happen depends on what unfolds once the deadline passes. For now, the CJP has made it clear it wants the Election Commission’s functioning to stay in the spotlight.

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