New Delhi, 24 September— Pressure seems to be mounting on Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar to resign after a news report claimed that two Election Commissioners formally raised objections to the functioning of the poll panel, with Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) Founder Abhijeet Dipke’s 48-hour ultimatum to quit or face nationwide protests giving weight to the opposition’s call for his impeachment.
Addressing a press conference in the Union capital today, Dipke, who spearheaded the recent Jantar Mantar protest against paper leaks, called CEC Kumar the “biggest traitor” and a threat to India’s democracy.
Dipke was joined by party colleagues Sourav Das and Asutosh Ranka, who discussed The Indian Express’s reports and alleged collusion between the ruling BJP and the ECI.
The CJP made three key demands; first Kumar’s removal and criminal proceedings against him, along with disclosure of who ordered the alleged illegal actions; second an immediate halt to all upcoming polls and the constitution of an independent inquiry commission to examine the SIR’s entire decision-making process and lastly a new law to reconstitute the Election Commission in a way that inspires public confidence.
The CJP – which insists it is not a political party but a pressure group and which had ensured the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan as India’s education minister – also asked the Supreme Court to order the SIR files sealed and moved to its custody “so that no one can claim a fire accident.”
A report concerning the Election Commission that surfaced yesterday proves that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar is the country’s biggest traitor. He is the biggest anti-national in this country, and he should resign immediately…He poses the greatest threat to India’s democracy…,” he said.
Dipke alleged that ever since Gyanesh Kumar became Chief Election Commissioner, the government has been deciding who gets to vote and who doesn’t. “Is this democracy”, he exclaimed.
According to the CJP founder, 13 crore voters have been deleted under the Election Commission India’s controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
“This is not a small number. In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the margin between the opposition and the ruling party (NDA) was just 2%. Deleting 13 crore votes is equivalent to deleting roughly 13% to 14% of the total votes. Is Gyanesh Kumar deleting them intentionally to widen that 2% gap so that they never lose office? Why is this being done? What was the need to delete so many votes?” he asked.
Dipke further alleged that the SIR exercise was designed to weaken the regional parties after the BJP failed to secure a majority in the 2024 election.
“The panic button was pressed when they fell short of that majority… They realized then that the mood of the country was shifting and that regional forces were emerging very strongly, be it Uddhav Thackeray in Maharashtra, the NCP, Stalin, Pinarayi Vijayan, Arvind Kejriwal, or Mamata Banerjee. These chief ministers were targeted and defeated one by one.
“This cannot be a mere coincidence; there is a clear pattern… In West Bengal, 50,000 votes were deleted from Mamata Banerjee’s constituency, and she lost by a margin of around 15,000 votes. In MK Stalin’s constituency, 100,000 votes were deleted, and he lost by about 45,000 votes. In Delhi, 40,000 votes were deleted from Arvind Kejriwal’s constituency, and he lost by a margin of 4000-5000 votes. Pinarayi Vijayan would have won, but due to the deletion of votes in Kerala, he did not become the Chief Minister. Was this move designed solely to eliminate strong opposition figures? He said.
Asserting that his organisation has no particular affinity for any Opposition party, he said that if the entire Opposition is wiped out, India will not remain a democracy, and holding free and fair elections won’t be possible.
According to the report by Indian Express, Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi formally recorded their objections on at least 14 occasions over the past 10 months to decisions and orders of the Election Commission, including deletion, addition, and restoration of voters and changes for the registration process of new voters.
They also raised objections over decisions allegedly taken without their knowledge. The two ECs reportedly described a change in Form 6 for registration of new voters as “unauthorised and illegal”.
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