Cockroach Janta Party renews demand for CEC's resignation, threatens Oct 2 stir

The standoff between the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and the Election Commission of India over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists and alleged irregularities in the rolls has sharpened. The party had warned Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to resign within 48 hours. That deadline has now passed without a resignation.

After the deadline lapsed, the CJP announced its next course of action in aggressive terms, appealing to its workers and supporters to be ready. "The desire for sacrifice now lives in our hearts, let us see how much strength lies in the assassin's arm... all of you get ready, we will meet directly on October 2," the party said. Attention now turns to how Gyanesh Kumar or the Election Commission respond.

Earlier on Thursday, the CJP had held a press conference in New Delhi demanding Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The party had said that if he did not resign within 48 hours, agitations would begin across the country. It has also demanded that the upcoming state assembly elections be postponed.

CJP founder and convener Abhijeet Deepke said his organisation would agitate in New Delhi as well as across the country. Party co-convener Saurabh Das set out three demands: the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner, criminal action against Gyanesh Kumar and those who allegedly directed him, and a halt to all upcoming elections.

The party has further demanded that the 2025 voter list be restored under SIR, that all files related to SIR be placed under the monitoring of a Supreme Court-led committee, and that the law governing the appointment of election commissioners be scrapped.

The dispute began with a report claiming there were differences within the Election Commission between Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and two Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, over SIR and other decisions. The report said Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had recorded written objections 14 times over the past 10 months on various decisions and functioning of the Election Commission.