Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke on Thursday demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar within 48 hours, warning that the outfit would launch a nationwide agitation if he failed to step down.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Dipke alleged that the functioning of the Election Commission under Kumar had undermined the right to vote and accused the poll panel of manipulating electoral rolls. He said the CJP would continue its agitation until Kumar resigned.
"To ensure free and fair elections, CEC Gyanesh Kumar must resign," Dipke said.
"If within 48 hours Gyanesh Kumar doesn't resign, the Cockroach Janta Party will start a nationwide agitation. We won't step back till the time Gyanesh Kumar resigns," he said.
The CJP said the proposed agitation would be on the lines of its protest at Jantar Mantar in June.
Dipke's demand comes amid a controversy over the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and a report that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections to several aspects of the exercise over the past 10 months.
The two Election Commissioners had objected 14 times to issues including voter additions, deletions and restoration, changes to Form 6 and aspects of the handling of electoral-roll data.
The Election Commission, however, has rejected the suggestion that the reported objections amounted to a division within the three-member poll panel. In a statement signed by all three commissioners, the ECI said differing views, written notes and internal checks were a normal part of deliberations and maintained that its decisions, including those concerning SIR, were taken unanimously.
Dipke accused Kumar of posing a threat to India's democracy and alleged that the Election Commission under him had effectively allowed the government to decide who would be allowed to vote.
"Chief Election Commissioner is the biggest anti-national. Gyanesh Kumar is the biggest anti-national of this country. He should resign immediately because he is the biggest threat to India's democracy," Dipke said.
"What did democracy mean in our country? Democracy meant that the people would elect the government. Since Gyanesh Kumar became the Chief Election Commissioner, the government has been deciding who will be allowed to vote and who will not. Is this democracy? What kind of definition of democracy is this? You have turned the entire concept of democracy upside down," he said.
Dipke alleged that more than 13 crore votes had been deleted, questioning whether the deletions were intended to widen the gap between the ruling party and the Opposition.
"In total, more than 13 crore votes have been deleted. This is not a small number. In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the margin between the opposition and the ruling party (NDA) was just 2%. Deleting 13 crore votes is equivalent to deleting roughly 13% to 14% of the total votes," he said.
"Is Gyanesh Kumar deleting them intentionally to widen that 2% gap so that they never lose office? Why is this being done? What was the need to delete so many votes?" he asked.
He further alleged that the deletion of voters had affected Opposition leaders and parties, citing Mamata Banerjee, MK Stalin, Arvind Kejriwal and Pinarayi Vijayan.
"The BJP failed to secure a majority in the 2024 election. The panic button was pressed when they fell short of that majority. They had come down to 240 seats after raising the slogan of '400 paar'. After that, they realised that the mood of the country was shifting and that regional forces were emerging very strongly," Dipke said.
He alleged that leaders and parties that had campaigned together in 2024 were subsequently defeated one by one.
"In West Bengal, 50,000 votes were deleted from Mamata Banerjee's constituency, and she lost by around 15,000 votes. In M.K. Stalin's constituency, 1 lakh votes were deleted, and he lost by around 45,000 votes. In Delhi, 40,000 votes were deleted from Arvind Kejriwal's constituency, and he lost by around 4,000-5,000 votes," he alleged.
Dipke also alleged that the Election Commission's handling of party disputes and election symbols had benefited the BJP, citing the split in Uddhav Thackeray's party.
"Uddhav Thackeray's party was split, and its election symbol was taken away by the Election Commission. The Election Commission very cleverly and proactively took away that election symbol and gave it to a proxy party, which you could call a shell company," he alleged.
He accused Kumar of being responsible for what he described as election "rigging" and alleged that the CEC had "proactively ensured that the BJP remains in power".
Dipke also questioned whether the alleged elimination of Opposition figures could be considered compatible with democracy.
"Pinarayi Vijayan would have won, but due to the deletion of votes in Kerala, he did not become the Chief Minister. Was this move designed solely to eliminate strong opposition figures?" he said.
"Now, we have no particular affinity for the opposition or any specific party. But in a democracy, if you wipe out the entire opposition, can it still be called a democracy? Is it a free and fair election?" Dipke asked.
He said the CJP's demand for Kumar's resignation was based on its call for free and fair elections and reiterated that the party would continue its proposed nationwide agitation until the CEC stepped down.
The CJP's announcement comes a day after it said it would shift its focus towards electoral reforms and the functioning of the Election Commission following the controversy over the reported objections within the poll panel. The organisation had earlier signalled a campaign centred on "fixing" the Election Commission.
The CJP had also demanded that upcoming elections be frozen and that the SIR exercise be rolled back.
(With inputs from Agencies)