CJP gives CEC Gyanesh Kumar 48 hrs to resign over SIR, threatens nationwide agitation

New Delhi, Sep 24 (UNI) 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 of a nationwide agitation followed by an indefinite sit-in in Delhi if its demand is 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 left out of draft electoral rolls across 30 States and union Territories. The CJP 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. Under Gyanesh Kumar, we are seeing an electoral system in which the Election Commission is deciding who remains on the voter rolls and who does not," Dipke said. He added, "When millions of names can disappear from draft rolls, the burden is on the Commission to establish that every exclusion is lawful, transparent and subject to meaningful review." "Two of the three Election Commissioners formally objected to decisions being taken without their knowledge or approval.

The Election Commission must publicly explain how these objections were dealt with and who authorised the decisions in question," Dipke said. 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, asking new applicants to provide information about their own or their parents' presence in earlier SIR electoral rolls. The second issue raised by the CJP was the handling of appeals arising from the West Bengal SIR.

The party demanded that records relating to excluded voters, appeals and related legal proceedings be made public. The third concerned the centralisation of electoral-roll data. "The Election Commission cannot ask citizens to trust a system while refusing to explain how major changes to voter registration, deletion and data access are being authorised. Every decision affecting a citizen's right to vote must have a clear legal basis, an identifiable decision-maker and a transparent record," Das said. Co-convenor Ashutosh Ranka said the organisation was also concerned about the consequences of exclusion from electoral rolls.

"Who authorised the removal of citizens from electoral rolls without first ensuring a transparent and accessible remedy? The right to vote is a constitutional right protected through the electoral framework under Article 326. The Commission must answer to the citizens whose names have been excluded," Ranka said. 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, and 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.

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