CJP Gives CEC 48 Hours to Resign Over SIR, Threatens Nationwide Agitation

NEW DELHI, Sep 24 : The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) on Thursday gave Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar 48 hours to resign over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, warning that it would launch a nationwide agitation followed by an indefinite sit-in in Delhi if its demand was not met.

Launching its “Election Commission Thik Karo” campaign, CJP National Convenor Abhijeet Dipke, along with co-convenors Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, alleged that the SIR exercise had resulted in more than 13 crore names being excluded from draft electoral rolls across 30 States and Union Territories.

The party cited draft-roll exclusions of more than two crore names each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, around one crore in Karnataka, 97 lakh in Tamil Nadu, 90 lakh in West Bengal, 73 lakh in Telangana, 47 lakh in Delhi and 24 lakh in Kerala.

“Democracy means that people choose their government. This is not democracy, this is autocracy,” Mr Dipke said, alleging that the Election Commission under Mr Kumar was overseeing an electoral system in which the poll panel was determining who remained on voter rolls.

He said the Commission should establish that every exclusion was lawful, transparent and subject to meaningful review.

Mr Dipke also raised questions over alleged objections by two of the three Election Commissioners to decisions being taken without their knowledge or approval. He demanded that the Election Commission publicly explain how the objections were dealt with and identify who authorised the decisions in question.

CJP co-convenor Saurav Das highlighted three areas that the organisation said required immediate scrutiny.

The first concerned an additional declaration introduced into the online Form 6 process, under which new applicants are asked to provide information about their own or their parents’ presence in earlier SIR electoral rolls.

The second related to the handling of appeals arising from the West Bengal SIR. The party demanded that records concerning excluded voters, appeals and related legal proceedings be made public.

The third issue concerned the centralisation of electoral-roll data. Mr Das said every decision affecting voter registration, deletion and access to electoral data should have a clear legal basis, an identifiable decision-maker and a transparent record.

Co-convenor Ashutosh Ranka said the organisation was also concerned about the consequences of exclusion from electoral rolls. He questioned who had authorised the removal of citizens from the rolls without first ensuring a transparent and accessible remedy.

The CJP demanded the immediate resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar and an independent investigation into decisions taken during the SIR, including identification of officials who authorised disputed changes.

It also called for a halt to further SIR-related exclusions, restoration of the January 2025 electoral rolls pending verification, and transfer of relevant SIR records to the Supreme Court or an independent judicially supervised inquiry.

The organisation further demanded repeal of the 2023 law governing the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners, seeking its replacement with a framework involving wider institutional and civil-society participation.

The CJP also sought public clarification from Election Commissioners Sandhu and Joshi on their recorded objections and demanded publication of the relevant objection notes and responses.