India’s youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has threatened to launch nationwide protests unless Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resigns over allegations concerning changes to voter lists.
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke announced on Friday that protests would begin in Mumbai on October 2 if Kumar fails to step down.
The group gave the election chief a 48-hour deadline to resign, following a report by The Indian Express alleging that two election commissioners had raised concerns with Kumar at least 14 times in 10 months, mainly over the process of updating voter lists.
“If Gyanesh Kumar does not resign by tomorrow, CJP will begin its nationwide protest from Mumbai on October 2, and take it to cities across India,” Dipke said in a post on X.
The announcement came as India’s main opposition Congress party organised protests at election offices across the country, demanding Kumar’s removal, arrest and an independent review of voter-list changes made under his leadership.
Opposition parties have accused the Election Commission of deleting millions of voters from electoral rolls without adequate notice and adding names without proper verification, allegedly to benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The Election Commission rejected the allegations, saying differences of opinion and observations are a normal part of institutional deliberations and insisting that its actions have been lawful.
The BJP has also defended the commission, accusing the opposition of conducting a smear campaign because of its repeated electoral defeats.
The CJP emerged on social media in May and has since become associated with a series of youth protests in India. Demonstrations led by the group in July contributed to the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan following controversy over examination paper leaks.
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