Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke on Thursday demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, saying that Jantar Mantar 2.0 will definitely happen if Kumar does not resign.
The CJP held a press conference today, after a report by The Indian Express published on Wednesday revealed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally raised objections on at least 14 occasions over 10 months to decisions and orders related to voter registration, deletion and restoration of names and the management of electoral-roll systems.
Dipke said that if Kumar does not resign from his post within the next 48 hours, the CJP will start a nationwide agitation against the CEC.
“In total, more than 13 crore votes have been deleted. This is not a small number,” Dipke said, adding that the alleged deletion amounted to around 13-14 per cent of the total votes, news agency ANI reported.
He questioned whether the alleged deletion was intended to widen the 2 per cent margin between the opposition and the ruling party, referring to the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
“Is Gyanesh Kumar deleting them intentionally to widen that 2 per cent gap so that they never lose office? Why is this being done? What was the need to delete so many votes?…” he asked.
The CJP formally put forward three demands, including the resignation of Gyanesh Kumar as Chief Election Commissioner within 48 hours. It also demanded that criminal proceedings be initiated against Kumar and that he disclose who had allegedly directed him to take the decisions in question.
Second, the party demanded an immediate halt to ongoing electoral exercises and that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls be put on hold.
The CJP’s third demand was the repeal of the 2023 law governing the appointment of the CEC and other election commissioners. It called for a new law governing appointments to the Election Commission that, it said, would inspire public confidence.
