Controversy Erupts Over Electoral Roll Revisions
Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), has launched a sharp attack on Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, demanding his immediate resignation. Speaking in Delhi on September 24, 2026, Dipke labeled Kumar the "country's biggest traitor" and an "anti-national," asserting that the CEC poses the gravest threat to India's democracy. His criticism centers on the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, which he claims involves large-scale deletion of voter names.
Dipke's remarks follow an investigation by the Indian Express, which reported that other Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, had recorded objections regarding voter registration, deletions, and electoral-roll databases. Under the SIR initiative, more than 13 crore names were reportedly struck off draft electoral rolls across 30 states and Union territories. Dipke emphasized the magnitude of this figure, comparing it to the 2024 Lok Sabha election's NDA-opposition gap, which was approximately 2%, while the deleted names represent about 13-14% of the electorate.
Allegations of Targeted Deletions
The CJP founder alleged a clear pattern of voter deletions targeting constituencies of prominent opposition leaders. He highlighted the West Bengal's Bhabanipur constituency, where more than 51,000 names were deleted during SIR before Mamata Banerjee lost the seat by 15,105 votes. Dipke also claimed approximately 1 lakh votes were deleted in MK Stalin's constituency and around 40,000 in Arvind Kejriwal's New Delhi constituency. The figure for Kejriwal's constituency is supported by reports of nearly 40,000 deletions before the 2025 Delhi Assembly election, which Kejriwal subsequently lost. The claim regarding Stalin's constituency, however, could not be independently verified.
Dipke further contended that the BJP's failure to secure a Lok Sabha majority in 2024 may have triggered a political response, leading to the alleged targeting of opposition leaders and regional forces. He questioned the democratic implications of such extensive voter-roll revisions, asking, "If you wipe out the entire opposition, can it still be called a democracy? Is it a free and fair election?"
Election Commission Denies Internal Rift
In response to the Indian Express report and the subsequent criticism, the Election Commission has denied any suggestion of an internal rift. The EC stated that all decisions related to the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls were taken unanimously, rejecting claims of dissent among its members.