If Gyanesh Kumar doesn’t resign, cockroaches from across India will march to Delhi & protest at Jantar Mantar on October 10

SUNIL NEGI

If Gyanesh Kumar doesn’t resign, cockroaches from across India will march to Delhi & protest at Jantar Mantar on October 10. If Delhi Police tries to stop us, wherever they stop us will become our Jantar Mantar. Ours will be a peaceful andolan. We will walk on the path shown by Mahatma Gandhi. It is up to the Govt & the Delhi Police whether they respect our right to peaceful protest or repeat the brutality we witnessed on July 20. This is a fight to save our democracy. Every citizen who wants free & fair elections must join.

This is the fresh announcement made by Cockroach Janata Party founder Abhijeet Dipke on X, giving an ultimatum to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar after the massive showdown witnessed in Delhi and Mumbai on Gandhi Jayanti.

The call given by the civil society group and the Cockroach Janata Party turned phenomenal on 2nd October 2026, with thousands of people, especially Gen Z, arriving with immense zeal and dedication at both Jantar Mantar in Delhi and Shivaji Park in Mumbai demanding the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar and the ruling political dispensation at the centre.

In Delhi, the protest was called by AISA National President Neha Bora, RJD Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha and Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan, along with left parties and INDIA bloc outfits. Despite Delhi Police denying permission and imposing Section 163 BNSS across New Delhi, clamping mobile internet from 9 am to 9 pm in a 1.5 km radius around Jantar Mantar and shutting 12 metro stations including Rajiv Chowk, Patel Chowk, Central Secretariat and Barakhamba, protesters kept converging.

Police said over 700 activists were detained and taken towards Badarpur and other borders in buses. The list of detained leaders is long and includes former Delhi Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Atishi, who posted from inside the police bus saying “Detained by Modi ji’s Delhi Police from Jantar Mantar”, former Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, AAP MLA Sanjeev Jha, CPI(M) General Secretary M A Baby who from inside a police van called Gyanesh Kumar a “butcher of democracy”, veteran CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat, CPI National Secretary and MP Comrade P Sandosh Kumar, CPI Delhi State Secretary Prof. Dinesh Varshney, AISF General Secretary Dinesh Seerangara, RJD leader Manoj Jha who said “Today is Gandhi Jayanti, it is shameful that they are behaving like this, this is all Godse-vadi people can do on Gandhi Jayanti”, Swaraj India leader Yogendra Yadav who said “India today is same as it was under British”, social activist Nikhil Dey who said “Satyagraha was murdered on Gandhi Jayanti and Section 163 cannot be a law in free Indian democracy”, DYFI General Secretary Himagnaraj Bhattacharya, DYFI President and Rajya Sabha MP A A Rahim, SFI General Secretary Srijan Bhattacharya, SFI President Adarsh M Saji, former JNUSU President Aishe Ghosh, and NSUI President Vinod Jakhar with his workers.

The most dramatic scene was of AAP MP Sanjay Singh who was not allowed to move outside his North Avenue house and was compelled to sit in a solitary dharna with Gandhiji’s pictures adorned at the back on the railings, while TMC MP Mahua Moitra extended support to the protesters online. AAP alleged protesters were literally beaten, dragged and forcibly thrown inside waiting police vans. At Jantar Mantar, there were hundreds of CAPF personnel with barricades all around and women police officers seen detaining Neha Bora without nameplates, while near the Press Club of India and Parliament House, thousands of protesters raised slogans of “Vote Chor Gaddi Chhod” and “Gyanesh Kumar Must Resign”. The CPI(M) condemned the denial of permission at Jantar Mantar, the designated site for protest, saying it amounts to curtailing constitutional rights and that Kumar was instrumental in converting the Election Commission into a back-office of the BJP.

In Mumbai, the CJP’s ‘Jail Bharo Andolan Season 2’ at Gate No. 6 of Shivaji Park, led by founder Abhijeet Dipke, saw literally thousands with national flags and placards reading “Gyanu, Tujha Democracy Var Bharosa Nay Kay?”, “Gyanesh BRO JUST RESIGN” and “Gaddaar Gyaanu Must Go”. Despite Mumbai Police denying permission and barricading routes from Dadar station, the crowd swelled. Dipke dared Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis saying “Send us to jail if you can” and called Mumbai Police “cute” compared to Delhi Police’s brutality.

The Mumbai rally became a star-studded affair. Veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah hugged Dipke on stage saying “I want to thank you, whatever you are doing, please continue”, veteran actress Shabana Azmi gave a speech saying “Our Vote Is Our Right”, Bollywood singer-composer Vishal Dadlani, who was in Anna Hazare’s Delhi rally earlier, led the chant “Go Gyanu Go” and said “Yeh aandolan chalu rahega”, film director Vishal Bhardwaj and his wife singer Rekha Bhardwaj, and activist Tushar Gandhi, great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi who said “On Gandhi Jayanti, we are fighting second freedom struggle to save vote”, were all present. South India actor Prakash Raj, in a video message on X, urged citizens to support CJP saying “goons who celebrate Godse are now trying to kill our citizenship and democracy through SIR and from NEET paper leak to vote chori they are stealing future of our Gen Z”. NCP-SP MP Supriya Sule also backed the protest, while Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS extended support in Dadar. A counter protest by a group calling itself Gen Next Mumbai was also held under the Ambedkar statue accusing Dipke of remarks about the Constitution.

The trigger for both protests is The Indian Express investigation which found that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had recorded objections on at least 14 occasions over 10 months to decisions and orders related to Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The Election Commission has maintained that all decisions on SIR were taken unanimously.

Now with Dipke’s October 10 ultimatum that cockroaches from across India will march to Delhi and wherever police stops them will become Jantar Mantar, the question being asked in political circles is whether this movement will be a repetition of July. In July this year, under similar Gen Z-led pressure after the NEET paper leak and massive “Vote Chori” protests at Jantar Mantar, the then Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had to resign. That July 20 protest also saw similar brutality and detention of hundreds of students. The government had then tried to downplay it as a small student protest but had to bow.

This time the target is bigger – the Chief Election Commissioner himself. Sources say the government is in a dilemma because Gyanesh Kumar is seen as instrumental in pushing SIR despite internal objections. If Gen Z pressure continues to swell as it did on October 2nd, with Bollywood, civil society and opposition uniting, and if the October 10 march brings thousands of cockroaches to Delhi as threatened, history may repeat itself and the CEC may be forced to quit to save the government’s face, just like Pradhan had to in July.