Slogans such as “SIR radd karo” (withdraw SIR) and “Gyanesh Kumar gaddi chhodo” echoed through Bengaluru’s Freedom Park on Thursday as the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) began its major protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Actor-activist Prakash Raj and popular YouTuber Dhruv Rathee joined CJP leader Abhijeet Dipke at the demonstration, where the outfit organised a “People’s Tribunal” to raise alleged irregularities in the revision of electoral rolls. The tribunal will be followed by a “Chappal protest”
The gathering at Bengaluru’s Freedom Park began drawing larger crowds from Thursday morning, with several activists and civil society organisations arriving at the venue. Around 1 pm, CJP leaders Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka reached the site and joined Dhruv Rathee and Prakash Raj on stage, raising their hands together as the crowd chanted slogans of “vote chor, vote chor”.
Addressing the protestors gathered at the Freedom Park, the actor said that the Election Commission (ECI) had “insulted the entire country” through the SIR exercise.
‘In this country, people used to decide who forms the government but with SIR, the government is deciding who will vote,” the actor said.
Demanding the withdrawal of the SIR exercise, which has allegedly led to the exclusion of more than 13 crore people across 20 states and Union Territories, Raj stressed that the protest was aimed at restoring citizens’ rights.
“The aim of this protest is not to remove CEC Gyanesh Kumar alone. If he goes, another will replace him. The aim is to scrap the SIR,” Raj said.
The protest comes amid continued demands by the CJP and Opposition parties for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the SIR exercise.
The demand has intensified following an Indian Express report which said that concerns over the deletion and subsequent restoration of voters’ names had also been raised within the Election Commission.
According to the report, Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi raised objections on at least 14 occasions over the past 10 months regarding various decisions related to the SIR exercise.
Several people who attended the CJP event at Freedom Park said their names had been removed from the draft electoral rolls during the SIR exercise. The CJP alleged that they were categorised as “shifted” or “absent” despite continuing to reside at the same addresses.
“People who are alive are declared dead. This is the death of democracy,” Abhijeet Dipke, CJP founder, said.
Meanwhile, YouTuber Dhruv Rathee described the agitation as “a fight to protect democracy” and released a report examining alleged SIR irregularities across 100 polling stations in Karnataka, according to The Hindu.
After the “People’s Tribunal”, the CJP will stage a “Chappal protest” in solidarity with women journalists who have alleged that they were sexually harassed by a Delhi Police personnel during a protest at Jantar Mantar.
