CJP gives CEC Gyanesh Kumar 48 hours to resign, threatens nationwide protests

Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke on Thursday demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, warning that nationwide protests would follow if he does not step down within 48 hours.

"Jantar Mantar 2.0 will definitely happen if CEC Gyanesh Kumar doesn't resign," Dipke said, alleging that Kumar posed a threat to Indian democracy.

Allegations of mass deletions

Dipke claimed that more than 13 crore votes had been deleted, which he said amounted to roughly 13-14 per cent of the total votes. He questioned whether the deletions were intended to widen the 2 per cent margin between the Opposition and the ruling party in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

"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 cited deletions in several constituencies, claiming 50,000 votes were removed in West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's constituency, 100,000 in Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin's constituency and 40,000 in former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's constituency. He also alleged that deletions in Kerala prevented Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan from winning.

"This cannot be a mere coincidence; there is a clear pattern," Dipke said, adding that the government was deciding who gets to vote since Kumar became Chief Election Commissioner.

Concerns within the poll body

Two election commissioners had raised concerns at least 14 times over 10 months, mainly regarding the voter-list revision exercise that began last year, according to a report on Wednesday. The Election Commission of India has sought to downplay the differences, saying they are normal in any institution and that all its actions are legal.

The revision exercise, known as the SIR, is an electoral-roll verification process aimed at identifying discrepancies such as duplicate and deceased voters. Its execution has sparked controversy.

Congress protest plans

The Congress on Thursday directed its state units to organise protest marches to their respective state election commission offices on September 25, demanding Kumar's immediate arrest and removal, along with an independent review of all decisions and electoral roll changes made under him. All District Congress Committees will hold similar marches to their respective District Collectorates on September 28.

Party general secretary KC Venugopal said that since day one, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has been exposing the "massive vote chori" exercise spearheaded by the "BJP-controlled CEC Gyanesh Kumar". He said Kumar's "treason" was out in the open after the revelations on Wednesday and that he must be arrested for his anti-national acts against democracy.

Opposition parties, led by the Congress, have called for protests, impeachment motions and Kumar's arrest, labelling his actions as treasonous against democracy.