NEW DELHI: The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) on Thursday demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar within 48 hours, accusing him of undermining voters’ rights and warning of a nationwide protest if he does not step down.Speaking at a press conference, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke alleged that the electoral process had been “rigged” and that citizens’ right to vote was being taken away.
The three demands
- The 1st demand: Gyanesh Kumar must resign within 48 hours. Initiate criminal proceedings against him. Answer who gave him the orders to steal votes.
- The 2nd demand: Immediately halt all upcoming elections, freeze the SIR, and restore the January 2025 voter list.
- The 3rd demand: Repeal the 2023 law on the appointment of Election Commissioners and enact a new law that inspires public confidence, built with active participation from civil society.
‘Jantar Mantar 2.0 will definitely happen’
Dipke warned that the party would begin protests across the country if Kumar did not resign within the 48-hour deadline.“If Gyanesh Kumar does not resign within 48 hours, we will start a nationwide protest, before coming for a protest in Delhi,” Dipke said, adding that if the CEC doesn’t resign, “Jantar Mantar 2.0 will definitely happen”.He also said opposition parties should reconsider participating in elections if they believed the electoral process was being rigged.“If you know elections are being rigged, you cannot participate. You will have to take a stand,” he said.Dipke alleged that Kumar was the “biggest threat to Indian democracy” and accused the Election Commission of deciding who would be allowed to vote.“Who is Gyanesh to revoke our right to vote?” he said, calling for criminal proceedings against the CEC.CJP cited exclusions of more than two crore names each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, around one crore in Karnataka, 97 lakh in Tamil Nadu, 90 lakh in West Bengal, 73 lakh in Telangana, 47 lakh in Delhi and 24 lakh in Kerala.“Democracy means people choose their govt. This is not democracy, this is autocracy. Under Gyanesh Kumar, we are seeing an electoral system in which Election Commission is deciding who remains on the voter rolls and who does not,” Dipke said.
Questions over SIR within Election Commission
The remarks came a day after The Indian Express reported that questions had repeatedly been raised within the three-member Election Commission over issues related to the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.According to the report, election commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally objected, on record, at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders related to the SIR.The report said the objections included four instances on a single day and involved decisions that Sandhu and Joshi said were taken or issued without their knowledge.The nationwide rollout of the SIR has been under the supervision of all three election commissioners.
