Gen Z-led ‘Cockroach’ protest kicks off in India, demanding CEC’s resignation

The Indian Gen Z-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), other student coalitions, and opposition forces gathered for planned protests in New Delhi and Mumbai demanding the resignation of India’s Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and mass deletion of voters.
Delhi Police detained more than 700 protesters from Jantar Mantar and several locations nearby, including former Delhi Chief Minister Atishi, The Hindu reports. 
“The right to protest is our fundamental right, and we want answers from the government on vote theft,” demonstrator Rishabh Singh said as police shoved him into a bus, according to the Reuters news agency, Al Jazeera reports.
The main allegation of the protesters and opposition parties is that the commission manipulated voter rolls in ways that favour Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The commission and the government have denied the allegations.
The CJP warned the government last week that it would launch nationwide protests unless the Election Commission chief resigned amid a voter roll controversy.
CJP founder and leader Abhijeet Dipke at the Mumbai protest said, “One Nation One Election is just a slogan; BJP wants One Nation One Party.”
Talking at the protest site, co-convener of the Cockroach Janta Party, Ashutosh Ranka, said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s shop is running because of the ECI. Who is Gyanesh to take away Ambedkar’s Constitution?”
He further added, “I was talking to a cab driver in Mumbai, and he told me his name had been removed from the voter list, even though his family has lived in the city for three generations.”
Hundreds of CJP supporters in Mumbai waved the Indian flags at the protest site, shouting, "Gyanu, it’s done, bro.” Some carried placards that read, “THE JANTA HAS A SPINE, GYANU MUST RESIGN.”
Several other Indian political parties, including AAP leaders and members of AISA, SFI, NSUI, and other student and youth organisations have participated in the protest.
“My motivation is our future,” 19-year-old protester Nidhi Sharma, a Delhi University student, told AFP. “I have to vote.”
At the Delhi protest, Mina Giri, 38, said her name had been removed from the rolls even though she has lived in the capital for 15 years and voted in previous elections.
“How could my fundamental right be taken away from me?” she said.
Another protester, Imran, 18, said his family had been left off the list.
“Because of this, we are struggling to get our other official documents,” preventing them from receiving government benefits, he said.
“We are poor, don’t have a lot, and are dependent on it.”
Police detained multiple protesters in Delhi, put them on buses, and dropped them off elsewhere, but some returned to the Jantar Mantar site on foot.
“No matter how many times they do this, we are going to return and protest,” said Sahana, an advocate who was picked up by police but then walked back two kilometers (a mile) to rejoin the demonstration.
“You cannot take away our right to walk, can you?” she said.
The authorities also suspended mobile internet services in the area.
Activist Vijeta Dahiya, who was involved in the previous “cockroach” campaign against the education minister, said that “no one wants to protest but is forced to raise their voice when the government makes mistakes."
“Protest anywhere in the country,” he said. “It is a matter of a right to vote.”
Indian EC launches review of voter rolls
On Wednesday, the INDIA alliance, an opposition grouping of more than two dozen parties led by Congress, said it would march to the EC office in Delhi demanding Kumar’s resignation on Tuesday and “Save Democracy” rallies countrywide in the days following.
In a move that appeared aimed at easing tensions, on Friday the election commission directed officials to register newly eligible voters and those omitted from electoral rolls.