Poll panel dissent row: CJP pauses campaigns, turns focus to Election Commission reforms

The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which has been campaigning on issues such as school infrastructure and tribal education, said on Wednesday (September 23, 2026) that such efforts would bring little change if the people's right to vote were compromised. The party described the protection of elections as central to addressing other problems facing the country.

CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke indicated that the outfit would take up the issue of reforms in the Election Commission of India (ECI) as a major campaign. His remarks came a day after media reports said differences within the poll panel had spilled into the open, with two Election Commissioners repeatedly dissenting over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

"Election Commission Thik Karo! Important PC tomorrow in Delhi. Gyanesh, it's done bro," Mr. Dipke said on X, referring to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

The CJP said it had cancelled its programmes scheduled for Thursday (September 24, 2026). Its leadership is to address a press conference in Delhi at noon on what it called the "Hijacking of India's Democracy."

Alleging that the Election Commission was "stealing our votes," CJP chief spokesperson Saurav Das said, "Nothing is going to work because the Election Commission of India is compromised." The allegation has been made by the party and has not been accepted by the Commission.

Mr. Das said the CJP could continue its campaigns on schools, unemployment, infrastructure and examination irregularities, but these would ultimately serve little purpose if people were unable to exercise their right to vote and change the system through elections.

"We can do as many School Theek Karos, we can do as many Adivasi School Theek Karos... but nothing is going to help if our final tool that we can use to change our system, the right to vote, is stolen from us," Mr. Das said in a video statement.

The remarks followed media reports on Wednesday that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally objected at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders of the Commission. The reported objections covered the addition, deletion and restoration of voters and changes to the voter registration process during the SIR of electoral rolls.

The SIR is an exercise to revise electoral rolls, involving fresh verification of existing electors and the addition, removal or restoration of names. Such revisions are carried out by the Commission under its constitutional mandate.

Under Article 324 of the Constitution, the Election Commission has the superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of electoral rolls and the conduct of elections. The right to vote, and the integrity of the roll on which it rests, is the mechanism through which citizens hold governments accountable.

Opposition parties have demanded the scrapping of the SIR and the impeachment and arrest of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. These are demands made by political parties and do not by themselves establish wrongdoing.

In the wake of the reports, ECI officials said the two commissioners had flagged decisions taken during the poll roll cleanup and the handling of the voter database in various States. ECI sources maintained that all decisions of the Commission, including on the SIR, were unanimous and had the approval of both the Election Commissioners and the Chief Election Commissioner.

The reported objections have renewed public debate over the functioning of the poll panel and over the manner in which electoral rolls are revised. Mr. Das said the CJP was therefore seeking greater attention to how the Commission works and to the protection of the right to vote, which he described as the fundamental tool for bringing about change.

"The fundamental tool to bring change is elections," he said, asking how anything would change if elections were "stolen away" from the younger generation and others.