India
oi-Ashish Rana
The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) said the right to vote must be saved before other issues facing the country can be addressed later. CJP on Wednesday said that they will first address election commission issue before school infrastructure and tribal education.
CJP prioritizes addressing concerns about the Election Commission of India, citing Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi’s reported objections to voter roll revisions during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), arguing the right to vote must be protected.
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke said that the organisation now would raise concerns over functioning of Election Commission after the reports of repeated differences between election commissioners over SIR (Special Intensive Revision) of electoral rolls.
CJP Cancels Programmes, Announces Delhi Press Conference
The CJP has cancelled its programmes scheduled for Thursday and said its leadership would address a press conference in Delhi on the “Hijacking of India’s Democracy” at noon.
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.”
Das said the CJP could continue its campaigns on schools, unemployment, infrastructure and examination irregularities, but these would ultimately serve little purpose if people are 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,” Das said in a video statement.
Election Commissioners Reportedly Raised Objections
The remarks came after The Indian Express reported 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 Election Commission, including on addition, deletion and restoration of voters and changes to the voter registration process during the SIR of electoral rolls.
The opposition has demanded the scrapping of SIR and the impeachment and arrest of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
CJP Says Elections Are Key To Change
“The fundamental tool to bring change is elections,” Das said, adding that if elections were “stolen away” from the younger generation and others, “then how is anything going to change?”
He said the organisation was therefore seeking greater attention to the functioning of the poll panel and protection of the right to vote.
In the wake of the Indian Express report, EC officials said the two commissioners had flagged decisions taken during the poll roll cleanup and handling of the voter database in various states.
EC sources maintained that all decisions of the Election Commission of India, including SIR, have been unanimous and with the approval of both the Election Commissioners and the Chief Election Commissioner.
