New Delhi: India's Election Commission is facing growing political pressure after a youth group threatened to launch nationwide protests from October 2 if Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar does not resign by Saturday, September 26.
Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the group calling itself the Cockroach Janta Party, said the group would begin its protest in Mumbai on October 2, which is Gandhi Jayanti, and take the campaign to other cities if Kumar does not step down.
The announcement came a day after the group demanded Kumar's resignation within 48 hours and warned of a wider agitation over what it alleged were irregularities in the election process.
The latest confrontation follows a report by The Indian Express that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had recorded objections at least 14 times over a period of 10 months to decisions relating to electoral rolls and the handling of electoral data.
The reported objections included issues involving Form 6, which is used for registering new voters, access to electoral roll databases, the centralisation of electoral data and aspects of the Special Intensive Revision, or SIR, of electoral rolls.
The Election Commission has rejected the suggestion that the reported objections represent a breakdown within the institution, saying that differing views and written observations are part of its normal internal deliberations. The Commission has also said that decisions taken by the full Commission, including decisions concerning the SIR, were unanimous.
The controversy centres on the Election Commission's large scale revision of voter lists. The SIR process was first carried out in Bihar and has since been extended to other parts of India.
More than 13 crore names have been excluded from draft electoral rolls during the revision process across 30 states and Union territories, according to figures reported by The Indian Express. These are draft roll exclusions and should not be treated as the permanent removal of 13 crore voters. The electoral process provides for claims, objections and further verification before final rolls are prepared.
The Supreme Court has also considered the legality of the SIR process. In May 2026, the court upheld the Election Commission's authority to conduct the Special Intensive Revision in Bihar while setting out procedural safeguards for the exercise.
The issue has become particularly contentious in West Bengal, where large numbers of voters have challenged their exclusion from electoral rolls. The Election Commission has told the Supreme Court that 27.16 lakh voters were deleted through the adjudication process in the state. It said 22.21 lakh of those voters subsequently filed appeals seeking restoration.
Some opposition parties have accused the Election Commission of manipulating electoral rolls in ways that could benefit the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. The Election Commission has rejected those allegations.
The controversy intensified further on Friday as Congress workers held protests in several locations demanding Kumar's resignation and removal.
In Manipur, Congress workers protested at the office of the state's Chief Electoral Officer and demanded action against Kumar. In Chandigarh, police used water cannons to disperse protesters during a demonstration.
The Congress protests are separate from the campaign announced by the Cockroach Janta Party. The youth group has said its October 2 action will begin in Mumbai if Kumar does not resign by the September 26 deadline.
As of September 25, Kumar remains Chief Election Commissioner.
The dispute has expanded beyond the SIR process, with opposition protests and the CJP's planned campaign putting further attention on the functioning of India's election authority.