NEW DELHI: The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which has been campaigning on issues including school infrastructure and tribal education, has shifted its focus to electoral reforms, saying its efforts on other problems would have little impact if people’s right to vote was compromised.According to news agency PTI, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke indicated that the organisation would take up reforms in the Election Commission after differences within the poll panel over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls came into the open on Wednesday.“Election Commission Thik Karo! Important PC tomorrow in Delhi. Gyanesh, it’s done bro,” Dipke said on X.The CJP cancelled programmes scheduled for Thursday and said its leadership would hold a press conference in Delhi at noon on what it called the “Hijacking of India’s Democracy”.
‘Nothing is going to work’
CJP chief spokesperson Saurav Das alleged that the Election Commission was “stealing our votes”.“Nothing is going to work because the Election Commission of India is compromised,” Das said.In a video statement, Das said the organisation could continue campaigning on schools, unemployment, infrastructure and examination irregularities, but such efforts would ultimately serve little purpose if people were unable to exercise their right to vote and change the system through elections.“We can do as many School Theek Karos, we can do as many Adivasi School Theek Karos… but nothing is going to help if our final tool that we can use to change our system, the right to vote, is stolen from us,” Das said.He said elections were the “fundamental tool to bring change” and questioned how anything could change if elections were “stolen away” from the younger generation and others.“The fundamental tool to bring change is elections,” Das said, adding that if elections were “stolen away” from the younger generation and others, “then how is anything going to change?”The organisation said it was therefore seeking greater attention to the functioning of the poll panel and protection of the right to vote.The CJP’s announcement came after Indian Express reported on Wednesday that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally objected at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders of the Election Commission.The objections reportedly included decisions on the addition, deletion and restoration of voters, as well as changes to the voter registration process during the SIR of electoral rolls.The opposition has demanded that the SIR be scrapped and has called for the impeachment and arrest of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.In the wake of the report, EC officials said the two commissioners had flagged decisions taken during the electoral roll cleanup and handling of the voter database in various states.EC sources, however, maintained that all decisions of the Election Commission of India, including SIR, have been unanimous and taken with the approval of both the Election Commissioners and the Chief Election Commissioner.(With inputs from PTI)
