CJP to CEC Gyanesh Kumar, warns of Jantar Mantar protest
The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) Thursday demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar within 48 hours, alleging irregularities in the ongoing. They also announced the launch of a nationwide “Election Commission Thik Karo” campaign on Thursday.
The party cited large-scale exclusions in several states, including more than 2 crore names each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, around 1 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,” Dipke said, alleging that the Election Commission had failed to adequately explain the basis and review mechanisms for exclusions from electoral rolls.
The CJP’s demands come amid an investigation by The Indian Express, which reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had recorded objections on at least 14 occasions over a 10-month period concerning decisions and orders related to voter additions, deletions, changes to Form 6 and the centralisation of electoral-roll data.
CJP National Convenor Abhijeet Dipke and co-convenors Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka said Kumar has 48 hours to resign, else they will call for a nation-wide agitation and an indefinite sit-in in Delhi.
The Election Commission, however, has disputed the characterisation of the objections, saying that the notes formed part of its decision-making process and maintaining that decisions taken during the period were unanimous.
The CJP has demanded that the Commission publish the relevant objection notes and its responses so that the competing claims can be independently examined.
The CJP has put forward three demands
- Resignation and investigation
- Freeze exclusions and secure records
- Reform of appointment process