India's "cockroach" protestors have issued an ultimatum to the country's chief election commissioner to resign within 48 hours or face nationwide protests.
The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), a Gen-Z pressure group born out of self-deprecating humour, led one of the biggest student protests in years, which forced the resignation of prime minister Narendra Modi's education minister.
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke on Thursday asked Gyanesh Kumar to tender his resignation after a report claimed he had been repeatedly questioned by his deputies over changes to voter lists.
The Indian Express on Wednesday reported that two election commissioners had raised questions or expressed concern at least 14 times in 10 months, mostly in connection with the process of updating voter lists that began last year.
India's election commission is an autonomous constitutional body consisting of three commissioners. Mr Kumar is one of the three election commissioners and is the chief as he is the most senior.
The report sparked a political furore, with opposition parties launching a fresh attack on the election commission. The opposition parties have accused the commission of manipulating voters’ lists in opposition-run states to benefit prime minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The election commission has denied these claims. The panel said the differing views, written notes, and internal checks were a normal part of deliberations and maintained that its decisions were taken unanimously.
"To ensure free and fair elections, CEC Gyanesh Kumar must resign," Mr Dipke said at a press briefing in New Delhi. "If within 48 hours Gyanesh Kumar doesn't resign, the Cockroach Janta Party will start a nationwide agitation. We won't step back till the time Gyanesh Kumar resigns," he said.
Mr Dipke called the chief election commissioner the biggest “anti-national” and a threat to Indian democracy. "Since Gyanesh Kumar became the chief election commissioner, the government has been deciding who will be allowed to vote and who will not," he said, adding that Mr Kumar had turned the concept of democracy "upside down".
Mr Dipke claimed 130 million votes had been deleted across the country. He questioned whether the votes deleted were intended to widen the gap between the ruling party and the opposition.
The main opposition Congress Party announced protest marches on all state election offices across India on Friday, demanding Mr Kumar's arrest, his removal from office, and an independent review of all decisions and voter-list changes made under him.
Opposition parties have criticised the conduct of the panel in recent years, alleging that names of millions of voters were deleted without warning and that new voters were added without verification to favour the BJP.
The BJP has defended the poll panel and said opposition parties had launched a smear campaign because they were regularly losing elections.
"Neither the Election Commission of India nor any constitutional body in India is under dictatorial rule ... they are functioning democratically," BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said at a media briefing on Wednesday.
The CJP is fresh off its successful youth demonstrations in July, which led to the resignation of Mr Modi's education minister over exam-paper leaks in one of the political setbacks since he came to power in 2014.
The CJP is a satirical take on Mr Modi’s BJP and was formed in response to disparaging remarks about young people made by India’s chief justice, Surya Kant. He has since said his comments were taken out of context.
The movement amassed more than 25 million followers on Instagram in almost two months, becoming one of the country’s biggest viral sensations. Analysts have framed it as one of the biggest challenges to Mr Modi’s authority in years.
