Thousands gathered at Mumbai’s Shivaji Park on October 2 for the Cockroach Janta Party’s ‘Jail Bharo Andolan’, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over its concerns about electoral rolls and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
The protest went ahead despite Mumbai Police denying permission for the gathering. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke addressed the crowd, while actors Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah and Vishal Dadlani, among other public figures, were present in support of the protest.
The CJP has demanded that the 2025 electoral roll be frozen and has called for greater transparency in the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner. The organisation has said its agitation will move to other cities if its demands are not met.
Ahead of the large-scale protests led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) in Mumbai and Delhi on 2 October, CJP members Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka spoke to The Quint about the group’s demands, the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise and the police action against protesters.
“This is a young generation that is asking for better. Everybody understands that when we are asking for a better system, nobody can oppose it," Saurav Das said.
For Das, the protest is part of a larger campaign around electoral rights and institutional accountability.