The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) on Wednesday reiterated its demand that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resign over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists and offered support to the Congress-led INDIA bloc's November 1 rally at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan, indicating that the protests over alleged electoral fraud are coming together into a single movement.
"Nation above all!" CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke posted on X, sharing a statement from the youth-led outfit. It was not immediately clear if he or others from the CJP would be on the stage or attend at all. The statement said, "The fundamental principle of democracy is that people get to choose their government, not that the government gets to choose its voters."
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It added, "By undermining this very principle through SIR, Gyanesh Kumar has lost the trust required to oversee free and fair elections. His resignation is therefore necessary to restore the credibility and independence of the Election Commission." The CJP thus said it would "support all organisations fighting for free and fair elections in our country".
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The endorsement comes after weeks of concurrent campaigns against Gynesh Kumar by the Congress and the CJP, as well as demonstrations over paper leaks in June and July. The Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, Left parties, Shiv Sena (UBT), and NCP (SP) supported the CJP, while the Congress declined to participate in the CJP's October 10 protest in Delhi, citing its own national movement. Despite their tense relations with the Congress-led INDIA alliance, the Aam Aadmi Party and the DMK have also supported the CJP. From 2020 to 2023, Dipke was involved in the AAP's social media and campaign operations.
Dipke had maintained the stance that the CJP would stay outside party politics but was not against the INDIA bloc because both agitations shared a common cause.
Rahul Gandhi, who is the Leader of Opposition, has also used the phrase "all protests are one" in recent statements.
Gandhi reportedly invited Dipke to a high tea with INDIA bloc leaders and civil society groups, though he did not attend.
Rahul also criticised the arrest of CJP leaders by the Delhi Police authorities.
Those arrests came after CJP leaders Saurav Das, Ashutosh Ranka and Ajinkya Shinde were held for trying to enter Jantar Mantar after it was denotified as a protest site.
Das and Ranka were released from Tihar after seven days, once they gave a Special Executive Magistrate written undertaking not to call protests at Jantar Mantar until the site is denotified in accordance with law.
AISA chief Neha Bora has been a bridge between the parallel protests.
The venue for the Saturday's rally is Ramlila Maidan, which is one of the three grounds that has been designatied for Protests. The Delhi Police announed few days earlier.
Congress MP Jebi Mather has said the rally was a joint decision taken after consultations with INDIA bloc parties, and that there were no differences within the Opposition over the demand for the CEC's resignation.
Meanwhile, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has asked party MPs to stay in Delhi from October 30 to November 1.
The Delhi Police has also granted a no-objection certificate for the rally, with conditions, for a programme between 10 am and 5 pm.
The BJP has objected to the date. BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad alleged that Rahul Gandhi was insisting on November 1 "to hurt the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots", and claimed several INDIA bloc constituents wanted the rally rescheduled. Rahul Gandhi responded on X with a "thank you" to the BJP and its allies for publicising the rally.
Election commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally opposed to SIR decisions made through the CEC at least 14 times in ten months, according to a September 23 media story that sparked the most recent unrest.
The Election Commission has maintained that its SIR decisions were lawful and unanimous.
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Dipke founded the CJP on May 16, after a sarcastic comment made by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant's remarks during a May 15 hearing were read as likening unemployed youth to cockroaches; the CJI later clarified he meant people using fake degrees.
Since then, the pressure group has been successful in changing the minister of education in July. It has now been protesting alleged electoral fraud, which Rahul Gandhi has been bringing up for the past two years.
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