India's 'cockroach' protesters are back - this time asking poll chief to resign

India's 'cockroach' protesters are back - this time asking poll chief to resign

India's opposition parties have called on Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to step down from his post

India's prominent Gen Z-driven "cockroach" protesters are preparing to return to the streets, this time demanding electoral reforms and the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over claims that voter rolls were manipulated.

The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), a pressure group that started as an online satirical campaign, scored its first major win in July when weeks of protests over education reforms led to education minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation.

CJP leaders have now urged supporters to assemble at Mumbai's expansive Shivaji Park grounds at 4pm local time (10:30 GMT) on Friday "to save democracy" and press for CEC Kumar's resignation.

CEC Kumar and the Election Commission have not replied to the CJP's or opposition parties' demands for his resignation. They have also not responded to accusations of vote theft or claims that elections were rigged. The BBC has sought comment from them.

Over the past few days, the CJP has posted numerous messages, reels and posters for its 25 million Instagram followers and more than 400,000 followers on X, urging them to come out in large numbers to "strengthen the voice of democracy".

In a press statement on Thursday, the group said the Mumbai protest is the first in a planned series of demonstrations across the country in October, ending with a rally in the capital, Delhi.

The CJP says Mumbai police have refused permission, but security is being stepped up in the city as large crowds are expected, and some of the state's main opposition parties have also promised support.

The disputes were reported to be largely about a controversial overhaul of the country's electoral rolls called the Special Intensive Revision, or SIR, which began last year.

Abhijeet Dipke is the founder of the CJP, which began as a satirical online movement before becoming a pressure group

The Election Commission says the exercise is meant to remove duplicate and ineligible entries, and so far 130 million names have been removed from the voters' list.

However, opposition parties and activists say many of those removed were eligible voters, and that CEC Kumar is manipulating the process to benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in elections. Both the BJP and the Election Commission have denied the allegations.

An Indian Express report last week said the two commissioners had also been questioning the integrity of the voter database, changes to the process for enrolling new voters and the security of the electoral rolls themselves.

The EC defended its procedures and said in a statement, external that "differing views" were part of the "decision-making process" and that all decisions were made unanimously.

The disclosures triggered an uproar, with opposition leaders demanding Kumar's resignation.

Leader of the opposition and senior Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi has repeatedly accused the commission of "stealing votes from the opposition" and said officials involved in "vote theft" were "traitors".

Another senior opposition leader, Mamata Banerjee, has called for the CEC's arrest.

On Wednesday, the INDIA alliance - an opposition bloc of nearly two dozen parties that includes both Gandhi and Banerjee - said it would also stage protest rallies across the country in the coming days. It added that on 6 October, all opposition MPs plan to march to the Election Commission office in Delhi.

Many opposition parties have also said they will back the Mumbai protest.

Even though Mumbai police have denied permission for the demonstration, Dipke has said they will gather anyway and that if police arrest them, they will begin a "Jail Bharo Andolan (fill the prison movement)".

In a brief animated video posted on its social media accounts on Wednesday, the CJP said the right to vote is a citizen's right and that preventing an eligible voter from casting a ballot was an "issue of serious concern in a democracy".

"We demand transparency and accountability from the commission and want the CEC to resign. This is not a fight for one party, it's for free and fair elections and every citizen's right to vote," it added.