The pressure group, Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) on Friday threatened to launch stirs across the nation from October 2 if Gyanesh Kumar, the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) does not step down from his post by September 26, Saturday, the outfit’s founder Abhijeet Dipke said.

Dipke added that the protests would kick off from Mumbai on Gandhi Jayanti and would eventually spread to other cities across India.

He asserted, “If Gyanesh Kumar does not resign by tomorrow, CJP will begin its nationwide protest from Mumbai on 2 October, and take it to cities across India,” adding, “This Gandhi Jayanti, let's pledge to save democracy.” The announcement comes almost a day after the outfit demanded Kumar’s resignation within 48 hours and warned of a ‘Jantar Mantar 2.0’ if their demand was not met.

CJP steps up attack on poll panel

On Thursday, Dipke showed up at a press conference alongside CJP’s co-convenors Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, where the trio accused Kumar of undermining the electoral process.

Dipke levelled a string of serious allegations against Kumar, including that the electoral process had been ‘rigged’ and that the Election Commission was trying to determine who would remain eligible to vote.

He also addressed Kumar with names such as “biggest traitor”, “biggest anti-national” and “biggest threat to Indian democracy.” However, the allegations levelled by Dipke have not been established yet as facts.

Meanwhile, Ranka voiced demands for criminal proceedings against Kumar, while Das alleged that young voters were deliberately being excluded from electoral rolls. The CJP has linked its campaign to wider concerns over the management of voter lists and the EC’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.

Protest threat emerges amid EC row

The CJP’s announcement comes amid renewed scrutiny of the Election Commission following an investigative report by “The Indian Express.” The report said Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had objected at least 14 times over 10 months to decisions and orders, which, as per their recorded objections, were taken without their knowledge.

Reports claimed that the objections involved aspects of electoral-roll management, including the addition, deletion and restoration of voter names, changes to Form 6 and access to electoral-roll data. A separate report by The Indian Express mentioned that the two commissioners had objected to changes to Form 6, which is used by new voters to apply for inclusion in the electoral roll.

However, the Election Commission, on the other hand, has shunned suggestions of an institutional rupture. It opined that differing views, written observations, technical suggestions and internal checks were part of the usual decision-making process within a multi-member constitutional body.

The poll panel also maintained that its decisions were unanimous.