NEW DELHI: The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) is set to hold a protest in Kochi, Kerala, today, demanding the cancellation of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The demonstration marks the movement’s first major street protest since last month’s high-profile demonstrations in New Delhi, which led to the detention of several party leaders.
The protest, titled “Jantar Mantar at Kochi”, is scheduled to take place at Rajendra Maidan from 4 pm, the party announced in a post on X on Thursday.
“Save Democracy! Cancel SIR!” the group said, urging supporters to join the demonstration.
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke is expected to attend, alongside South Zone leader Vijay Mallangi and national secretary Aafreen Nawaz.
The demonstration marks the group’s return to street protests following the detention and arrest of several of its leaders during an earlier campaign in New Delhi against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Delhi Arrests
Last month, Dipke and other CJP leaders, including Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das, were detained by Delhi Police while attempting to stage a demonstration against Kumar at Jantar Mantar.
Authorities subsequently withdrew the site’s designation as an authorised protest venue. Ranka and Das later entered the restricted area and waved the national flag in protest against the decision.
They were arrested and spent about a week in custody before being released after giving an undertaking that they would not organise further demonstrations at Jantar Mantar while it remained denotified.
Dipke was also detained in connection with a separate planned flag-related event at Central Park in Connaught Place and was later released on conditional bail.
Opposition Mobilises
The CJP’s campaign comes amid mounting opposition protests against the SIR exercise.
On November 1, tens of thousands of people gathered at New Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan for an INDIA bloc rally demanding Kumar’s resignation and accusing the authorities of undermining electoral democracy.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi led the demonstration, describing the voter roll revision as an attempt to take away citizens’ political voice.
The CJP expressed support for the opposition mobilisation but did not participate in the Delhi rally, maintaining its separate political identity.
Voter Roll Dispute
The SIR exercise has become a major point of confrontation between the opposition and the Election Commission.
Opposition parties allege that more than 130 million names have been removed from electoral rolls and claim the deletions could disproportionately affect Muslim voters and other communities considered less likely to support the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The Election Commission and the government have defended the revision process, saying it is intended to remove duplicate and ineligible entries.
The controversy has raised wider questions about voter access, electoral transparency and the safeguards needed to ensure that eligible citizens are not excluded from the democratic process.
