‘Resign in 48 hours’: CJP to CEC Gyanesh Kumar, warns of Jantar Mantar protest 2.0 - The Indian Express

The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) Thursday demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar within 48 hours, alleging irregularities in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

CJP National Convenor Abhijeet Dipke and co-convenors Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka said Kumar has 48 hours to resign, else they will call for a nation-wide agitation and an indefinite sit-in in Delhi.

They also announced the launch of a nationwide “Election Commission Thik Karo” campaign on Thursday.

Holding a press conference in Delhi, they said the organisation was protesting the exclusion of more than 13 crore names (roughly 13–14% of the electorate) from draft electoral rolls across 30 states and union territories during the SIR exercise.

The party cited large-scale exclusions in several states, including more than 2 crore names each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, around 1 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 that people choose their government. This is not democracy, this is autocracy,” Dipke said, alleging that the Election Commission had failed to adequately explain the basis and review mechanisms for exclusions from electoral rolls.

The CJP’s demands come amid an investigation by The Indian Express, which reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had recorded objections on at least 14 occasions over a 10-month period concerning decisions and orders related to voter additions, deletions, changes to Form 6 and the centralisation of electoral-roll data.

The Election Commission, however, has disputed the characterisation of the objections, saying that the notes formed part of its decision-making process and maintaining that decisions taken during the period were unanimous.

The CJP has demanded that the Commission publish the relevant objection notes and its responses so that the competing claims can be independently examined.

One of the issues raised by the CJP concerns the online Form 6 process used by people applying for inclusion in electoral rolls.

The CJP alleged that an additional declaration was introduced requiring new applicants to provide information about their own or their parents’ presence in earlier SIR electoral rolls. Citing The Indian Express report, the party said the section was not formally marked mandatory but applicants could not proceed without responding to it.

The party said the Election Commissioners had objected to the change, warning that it could create difficulties for first-time voters.

The group also sought greater transparency over the Election Commission’s handling of cases arising from the SIR exercise in West Bengal, including appeals involving excluded voters and legal proceedings initiated by the Commission.

The CJP said records relating to such proceedings should be placed in the public domain and independently examined.

Another concern raised by the party relates to the “centralisation” of electoral-roll data.

The CJP said the reported objections by Sandhu and Joshi regarding centralised software and access to electoral-roll data required a public explanation from the Commission.

“The Election Commission cannot ask citizens to trust a system while refusing to explain how major changes to voter registration, deletion and data access are being authorised,” Das said.

The party also questioned who authorised the removal of names from electoral rolls and whether adequate mechanisms existed for affected voters to seek review and restoration.

-Resignation and investigation: The party wants CEC Gyanesh Kumar to resign and called for an independent investigation into decisions taken during the SIR exercise.

-Freeze exclusions and secure records: It has demanded a halt to further SIR-related exclusions, restoration of the January 2025 electoral rolls pending verification, and transfer of relevant records to the Supreme Court or an independent judicially supervised inquiry.

-Reform of appointment process: The party has called for repeal of the 2023 law governing the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners and its replacement with a framework involving wider institutional and civil-society participation.

The CJP has also asked Sandhu and Joshi to publicly clarify their reported objections and urged the Election Commission to release the relevant records.