Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke on Friday urged opposition parties to stop contesting elections if they believe the electoral process is being rigged, arguing that their participation lends legitimacy to such polls.
In a post on X, Dipke said opposition parties could not simultaneously allege electoral manipulation and continue participating in elections.
"Yes, elections are being rigged. But when you continue to participate in rigged elections, you legitimise these elections and help maintain the illusion that they are free and fair," he said.
Dipke questioned whether opposition parties continued to contest polls out of fear that boycotting elections would weaken or eliminate them politically.
He also accused opposition parties of selectively raising allegations of electoral irregularities depending on the state or political party affected.
"If elections are being rigged, it should matter regardless of the state or which party is affected," he said, calling on opposition parties to prioritise democracy over political survival.
Drawing an analogy with a fixed cricket match, Dipke claimed that even a manipulated election could be made to appear competitive by allowing the opposition to win some seats.
The remarks came a day after Dipke demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and threatened to launch a "Jantar Mantar 2.0" agitation if his demand was not met.
His comments follow a report by The Indian Express that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally raised objections at least 14 times over 10 months to decisions concerning voter additions, deletions, restoration of names and changes to the voter registration process.
The Election Commission has said that differences of view are part of its decision-making process and maintained that its decisions, including those related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), were unanimous.
(With inputs from PTI)
