Last Updated on October 16, 2026 1:40 am by INDIAN AWAAZ
Staff Reporter / New Delhi
Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke on Thursday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah of using state machinery to protect Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar amid mounting protests over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. He questioned the alleged deletion of more than 13 crore voters, demanding accountability from the Election Commission and alleging that the controversy raised serious concerns about electoral fairness.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi alongside alongside All India Students’ Association (AISA) national president Neha Bora, Students’ Federation of India (SFI) leader Aishe Ghosh, All India Students’ Federation national president Viraaj Devang and actor Prakash Raj, among others, Dipke alleged that restrictions on demonstrations and the detention of protesters were intended to silence opposition to the poll panel. He announced a ‘Lehra Do Tiranga’ march at Central Park in Connaught Place on Friday, October 16, at 5 pm, urging citizens and political parties to participate.
The allegations over voter deletions and the government’s motives have not been independently established. The Election Commission has defended the electoral-roll revision exercise, while the BJP has rejected accusations of political bias.
Questions over voter deletions
Linking the controversy to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Dipke argued that even relatively small electoral margins could influence the outcome of closely contested seats.
“The margin of victory in 2024 was just 2 per cent. Over 13 crore voters deleted,” he said, questioning whether the alleged deletions amounted to an arrangement intended to influence election results.
The figures cited by Dipke were allegations made at the press conference and should not be interpreted as a verified count of voters deleted through the SIR exercise.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 240 of the 543 seats, securing 36.56 per cent of the votes polled. The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won 293 seats and formed the government.
The controversy has placed electoral-roll verification, voter inclusion and the transparency of the revision process at the centre of the political confrontation. The Election Commission’s procedures and the availability of mechanisms for voters to challenge omissions remain crucial to addressing concerns over the accuracy of electoral rolls.
Detentions intensify confrontation
Dipke criticised the detention of protesters and opposition leaders demanding action against Kumar. Referring to the security arrangements in the national capital, he questioned the closure of metro stations, restrictions on railway services and the deployment of large numbers of security personnel.
He also questioned the reported deployment of personnel from Jammu and Kashmir, alleging that the scale of the arrangements had turned Delhi into a heavily fortified zone.
“Former chief ministers, MPs, leaders of opposition, all were detained,” Dipke said, accusing the authorities of treating peaceful dissent as a threat.
He described the BJP’s ‘One Nation, One Election’ proposal as a cover for what he called the objective of “One Nation, One Party, One Leader”.
Criticising the detention of activists carrying the national flag, he asked why displaying the Tricolour during a peaceful demonstration should invite police action.
“Those who never embraced the Tricolour are attacking it,” he alleged, adding that holding the national flag was a democratic right.
CJP leaders sent to judicial custody
The press conference followed the detention of CJP leaders Saurav Das, Ashutosh Ranka and Ajinkya Shinde on Tuesday. According to the party’s legal team, the three were detained after crossing police barricades, entering Jantar Mantar and raising slogans demanding Kumar’s resignation.
The designated protest status of the site had recently been withdrawn, with authorities identifying three alternative locations for demonstrations.
The activists were booked on charges including obstructing a public official from discharging their duties. A court remanded Das and Ranka to five days of judicial custody, and they were sent to Tihar Jail. Shinde was released on a personal bond, CJP legal team head Ratna Singh said in a post on X.
The detentions drew criticism from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and other opposition figures, who expressed support for the protesters.
Dipke said the proposed Friday march would assert citizens’ right to peaceful protest and the use of the national flag as a symbol of democratic resistance. “Modi cannot be bigger than Gandhi and Nehru,” he said.
Student leaders allege police excesses against journalists
All India Students’ Association (AISA) national president Neha Bora, who attended the press conference, expressed solidarity with journalists covering the demonstrations and accused the police of intimidating media personnel.
Bora alleged that journalists from The Caravan and The Quint had been beaten, dragged away and detained for hours despite carrying press credentials. She further claimed that cameras had been confiscated and journalists threatened with the withholding of their equipment if they continued covering the protests. These allegations require independent verification.
Bora also accused Delhi Assistant Commissioner of Police Vivek Bhagat of sexually harassing a woman journalist and alleged that a counter-FIR was registered against the journalist after she approached the police with a complaint. The allegations were made at the press conference and could not be independently verified.
She accused the authorities of targeting people exercising democratic rights instead of ensuring public order.
“When you drag common people, you are dragging those 13 crore people,” Bora said, referring to the disputed voter-deletion figure.
Call for unity to defend democracy
Students’ Federation of India (SFI) leader Aishe Ghosh urged citizens to unite in defence of democratic institutions, saying she placed her faith in the public rather than the ruling BJP. She alleged that the Election Commission’s actions had helped the ruling party politically.
Ghosh also referred to the treatment of the parents of Ankita Bhandari, a resort receptionist murdered in Uttarakhand in 2022, alleging that they had been dragged and mistreated. She criticised what she described as the lack of accountability for people accused of serious crimes.
The press conference was briefly disrupted when a reporter allegedly interrupted Bora and began shouting. He was subsequently escorted away.
The latest developments reflect an escalating confrontation between the CJP, sections of the student movement and opposition parties on one side, and the authorities over the conduct of protests and the electoral-roll revision process on the other. The central questions remain whether the voter-roll exercise has been conducted transparently, whether affected voters have effective remedies and whether demonstrations can proceed without disproportionate restrictions.
PHOTO BIR BAHADUR YADAV