Mumbai, Oct 2: Thousands of people attended the Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP) protest at Shivaji Park here on Friday seeking the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, as party leader Abhijeet Dipke warned of “Jantar Mantar 2.0” if he did not step down.
Dipke also targeted the BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis while addressing the protesters.
“Gyanesh Kumar must resign and face criminal proceedings,” demanded CJP leader Ajinkya Shinde. He also demanded freezing of voter lists of 2025 and abolition of the 2023 law laying down the procedure for the appointment of Election Commissioners.
After “deletion of voters”, the BJP won states which it had not won even when the Narendra Modi wave was at its peak, Dipke alleged.
“If Gyanesh Kumar does not resign, the Gen Z of the entire nation will go to Delhi. There will be Jantar Mantar 2.0,” Dipke said as he gave a call for “Chalo Delhi”.
“The government is so incompetent that we have to protest again in two months (after the Jantar Mantar protest over the NEET paper leak),” the CJP founder said.
Referring to the proposal for simultaneous elections, he claimed that the real objective of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party was “One Nation, One Election, One Party”.
The CJP chose Maharashtra to start its protest against CEC Kumar because the alleged irregularities started from the state, Dipke said.
He claimed that 13 crore voters have been deleted in two years. In 2024, there were 97 crore registered voters and the gap between the victory between the NDA and INDIA grouping was just 2 per cent in 2024 Lok Sabha polls, he said.
Kumar was appointed 15 days before the polls to increase the gap, Dipke alleged.
Also in 2024, the BJP “stole” the Maharashtra assembly elections as 40 lakh voters were added to the electoral rolls, he claimed.
In Delhi, 40,000 voters were deleted in AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal’s assembly constituency and he lost by 4,000 votes, Dipke said.
In Tamil Nadu, nearly one lakh voters got deleted from former chief minister M K Stalin’s constituency and he lost by 10,000 votes while Mamata Banerjee lost similarly in West Bengal after voters in her constituency were deleted, the CJP leader alleged.
BJP supporters argue that the opposition won in Telangana, Karnataka and Jharkhand (and hence the elections are fair), but “when the match is fixed, not all balls are no-balls and not all catches are dropped,” Dipke said.
He also accused the BJP of trying to finish off regional parties, starting with the Shiv Sena and NCP in Maharashtra, and dubbed the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena a “shell company”.
Police had denied permission for the the CJP’s protest at Shivaji Park in central Mumbai. However, youths turned up in large numbers.
Dipke had dared Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to put him and other protestors behind bars.
Veteran actors Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi, filmmakers Vishal Bhardwaj and Hansal Mehta, singer-music director Vishal Dadlani, and Tushar Gandhi, great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, were present at the protest.
Despite opposition by a section of residents of Shivaji Park and heavy security deployment extending up to Dadar station, protesters filled the locality with slogans, Gandhian quotes, and signs calling for Kumar’s immediate resignation.
Waving tricolours and displaying posters with messages such as “Gyanu, Tujha Democracy Var Bharosa Nay Kay?”, “Gyanesh BRO, JUST RESIGN” and “Gaddaar Gyaanu Must Go”, activists from groups such as Student Federation of India (SFI) and youngsters thronged the area.
Demonstrators also brought unconventional props. Manish Mandal, a student, sported jewelry fashioned from ‘Melody’ chocolate wrappers while holding a banner with “Fraud detergent powder” written in Devanagari script.
Groups affiliated with AISF from Pune added rhythm to the demonstration by playing musical instruments.
Coinciding with Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary, the protest stage featured quotations on non-violence and simplicity alongside tributes to Babasaheb Ambedkar.
Songs from the film “Rang De Basanti”, and A R Rehman’s Vande Mataram were also played.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) had extended support to the CJP’s agitation. Its local MLA Mahesh Sawant said party leader Aaditya Thackeray did not remain present as he was unwell.
CJP leader Saurav Das targeted Delhi Police over detention of protestors at Jantar Mantar.
“Delhi Police has again resorted to brutality. We warn Delhi Police to improve or we will improve you,” Das said.
