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Youth-led Cockroach Janta Party protests spread across India as thousands demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over voter roll revisions. Police detain at least 700 people in Delhi as opposition parties plan nationwide movement.
Thousands of protesters took to the streets across India on Friday demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commission er Gyanesh Kumar over a controversial voter roll revision process.
The protests, led by the youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), erupted in Mumbai and Delhi, with more demonstrations planned in Goa, Kolkata and Bengaluru. The CJP, which began as online satire and grew into a powerful youth movement, announced it would resume agitation until Kumar steps down. Founder Abhijeet Dipke said the Mumbai protest would kick off a nationwide movement. We are fighting against those in power, Dipke said at a press conference.
We all remember Mahatma Gandhi, who fought against the Britishers. Did the British ever permit him to agitate? Authorities denied permission for the group to hold its protest at Mumbais Shivaji Park but Dipke vowed to proceed regardless. Hundreds assembled in Mumbai on Friday afternoon amid a heavy police presence.
Voting is the most basic right of any citizen, but because of the actions of Kumar and the election commission, that right is under attack, said Deesha, 22, a student activist. So many millions of people have lost their votes and arent even recognised as citizens of India any more. This attack on our democracy must stop. The first important step is to get Gyanesh Kumar to resign, and then SIR must be reversed.
Janvi Upadhyay, 18, said the Cockroach movement had awoken young people of India. We already forced the education minister to resign. Gyanesh Kumar should be very worried right now because he is definitely next, she said. In Delhi, anger also erupted even as police took draconian measures to stop people from protesting.
Delhi Protests Met with Draconian Measures
Thousands of police were deployed to Jantar Mantar, the epicentre of the last Cockroach agitation in July. A dozen metro stations in the surrounding area were closed and an internet shutdown was imposed. Hundreds who turned out were immediately forced into police buses. The mass detentions of at least 700 people, including civil society leaders and opposition politicians, prompted outrage, with protesters leaning out of bus windows to accuse officers of depriving them of fundamental democratic rights.
The controversy centres on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), a process to revise and purify Indias electoral register. A report in the Indian Express newspaper alleged irregularities and internal concerns about the process. Pressure on Kumar intensified last month after the newspaper reported the election chiefs two deputies had formally raised concerns at least 14 times over the past 10 months over voter-list revisions, registration procedures and the commissions digital systems.
The Election Commission has said differing views are a normal part of internal deliberations and that all its actions were lawful. It has denied wrongdoing in the SIR. Opposition politicians and civil society groups have alleged the SIR is part of a widespread manipulation of Indias electoral system to benefit the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The main opposition Congress party has said Kumar should be criminally prosecuted for treason.
Political analysts estimate that 130 million names have been struck off the voter list since the latest round of revisions began last year. The commission says the exercise is intended to remove duplicate, deceased or ineligible voters and ensure accuracy of electoral rolls. Political scientist Rahul Verma told ABCs The World there was no doubt the majority of those deleted were deceased or moved away.
But he said people were suffering because of the amount of documentation needed to prove why they should remain registered. While the chief commissioner and election commission may have its own explanation, the trust in election commission at this moment has taken a hit, Verma said. He said he has not seen this level of mass outrage among general voters since the revision process started in 2025.
India began verification of voter rolls ahead of elections in the eastern state of Bihar. The review has now covered the majority of Indian states. While voter roll revisions are routine, this round became controversial after large numbers of voters in states such as Bihar and West Bengal found their names missing and were unable to cast ballots.
In a move aimed at easing tensions, officials were directed to expedite the process to register newly eligible voters and those who claimed to have been wrongly omitted. An earlier protest saw hundreds of Cockroach Party protesters take to the streets calling for the chief electoral commissioners impeachment. Saurav Das, CJPs convenor, told ANI on Thursday: We have been asking and demanding for a change but nothing is going to happen.
If our only tool that is left to change anything in our society, the right to vote, is taken away from us. Police also prevented student and civil society groups from gathering Friday at Jantar Mantar to demand the commissioners resignation. Verma said the only way for the chief commissioner to be removed is through parliamentary impeachment, but it was unlikely because the opposition does not have the numbers.
He did not rule it out because the CJP spearheaded mass protests earlier this year over unemployment and leaked examination papers that triggered the resignation of Indias education minister, one of Modis most significant political setbacks in recent years. While education and employment was an emotive issue that cut across all young people, Verma was skeptical the electoral roll revision would carry the same sway.
Whether this movement has ability to mobilise again and again is at this moment difficult to say, he said. Opposition parties said they would also start a nationwide protest movement to demand Kumars resignation. All opposition lawmakers plan to march to the election commission office in Delhi next week. The CJP declared it would remain active as a pressure group to hold the government to account on issues of education and democracy.
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GuardianAus:This story was compiled and edited by the HeadTopics newsroom and HT AI from the reports above.
India Protests Election Commission Cockroach Janta Party Electoral Manipulation India Election Commissioner Protest Voter Roll Revision Gyanesh Kumar Resignation Special Intensive Revision
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