India's Cockroach Janata Party, student groups to protest, demand poll chief's resignation

Published Updated
0
Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) supporters chant slogans, hold placards and wave national flag as they celebrate the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) examination paper leaks, following a protest, in Mumbai, India on July 26, 2026. —Reuters/File
Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) supporters chant slogans, hold placards and wave national flag as they celebrate the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) examination paper leaks, following a protest, in Mumbai, India on July 26, 2026. —Reuters/File

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will face renewed pressure on Friday as the Gen Z-led Cockroach Janata Party and a separate coalition of student and activist groups stage fresh protests, demanding the resignation of the elections commission chief over a controversial voter roll revision.

The CJP will rally in Mumbai and plans to expand demonstrations nationwide in the coming days, while student and civil society groups will gather at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar.

The protests mark the latest escalation in a dispute that has put unprecedented scrutiny on India’s Election Commission, long regarded as one of the country’s most trusted institutions.

The protesters’ main allegation is that the commission manipulated voter rolls in ways that favour Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The commission and the government have denied the allegations.

Pressure on Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar intensified last month after the Indian Express newspaper reported the election chief’s two deputies had formally raised concerns at least 14 times over the past 10 months over voter-list revisions, registration procedures and the commission’s digital systems.

The Election Commission has said differing views are a normal part of internal deliberations and that all its actions were lawful.

“We have been asking and demanding for a change but nothing of that is going to happen, if our only tool that is left to change anything in our society ‘the right to vote’ is taken away from us,” Saurav Das, CJP’s convenor, told Indian news agency ANI on Thursday.

“We will only end the protest after Gyanesh Kumar resigns.” The controversy centres on a nationwide voter-verification exercise launched last year that critics say has led to millions of eligible voters being removed from electoral rolls.

The commission says the exercise is intended to remove duplicate, deceased or ineligible voters and ensure the accuracy of electoral rolls.

Opposition parties led by the Congress party are also set to begin protests demanding Kumar’s resignation on October 6.

The CJP, a youth movement that emerged earlier this year from online frustration over unemployment and leaked examination papers, has become an unexpected political force.

Led by Abhijeet Dipke, the party gained national prominence after spearheading mass protests over exam-paper leaks that led to the resignation of India’s education minister, one of Modi’s most significant political setbacks in recent years.

Opinion

Editorial

Risks ahead
Updated 02 Oct, 2026

Risks ahead

To think that the government would rather push out an elected government than grant a single prisoner some facilities does not square up rationally.
Exit from Iraq
02 Oct, 2026

Exit from Iraq

AMERICAN and British troops have once again shipped out of Iraq. On Wednesday, the foreign forces left the Arab...
Lahore’s ozone warning
02 Oct, 2026

Lahore’s ozone warning

LAHORE has received another warning that its air pollution crisis cannot be treated as a problem that begins with...
Fixing bond markets
Updated 01 Oct, 2026

Fixing bond markets

Pension funds, insurance companies, mutual funds, retail investors, and eventually, foreign investors must become bigger participants in the market.
Call centre rackets
01 Oct, 2026

Call centre rackets

A NUMBER of recent raids conducted by the authorities in different cities point to the growing threat fraudulent ...
Homeward bound
01 Oct, 2026

Homeward bound

FIVE months after Somali pirates captured an oil tanker carrying a 19-member multinational crew, Somali maritime...