A youth-led movement says it will bring supporters from across India to Delhi on October 10 unless Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resigns. Protests over changes to India’s voter lists have now run for three days, with police detaining demonstrators in the capital.
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A youth-led movement called the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) says it will hold a major protest in Delhi on October 10, demanding the resignation of India’s Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar.
“If Gyanesh Kumar doesn’t resign, cockroaches from across India will march to Delhi & protest at Jantar Mantar on October 10,” CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke wrote on X.
The protests are about the Special Intensive Revision, or SIR, a nationwide check of India’s voter lists. Protesters say the process has wrongly removed eligible voters, and that the changes help Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Election Commission and the BJP deny this, Reuters reported.
The dispute matters because the Election Commission decides who can vote in the world’s largest democracy. It has long been one of India’s most trusted institutions.
From Mumbai to Delhi
The latest wave began on Friday, October 2. CJP supporters rallied at Shivaji Park in Mumbai, in their first protests since July, while other groups gathered in Delhi, according to AFP.
The CJP began in May as a satirical online movement. In July, it campaigned nationwide after an exam paper leak, and India’s education minister later resigned, according to AFP and Reuters.
By Sunday, October 4, the protests had grown. Thousands of young protesters and opposition supporters rallied in Delhi and Mumbai, Reuters reported. In Mumbai, opposition leaders Raj Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray led protests calling for the voter-list changes to be scrapped.
“It’s the people of this country who should decide who sits in power and who sits in opposition, not the Election Commission,” Raj Thackeray said.
Police action in Delhi
In Delhi, police have detained protesters for three days in a row.
Officers have stopped demonstrators from gathering, detained dozens and taken them away by bus, Reuters reported. Some returned to the protest site at Jantar Mantar on foot, according to AFP. Police have not said how many people were detained.
On Sunday, some protesters broke through police barricades and surrounded buses carrying detained demonstrators, climbing onto them and lying on the road to block them, a Reuters witness said.
Student groups have also accused Delhi Police of assaulting women protesters and journalists. Police have not publicly responded to that accusation.
One protester, Rim Jhim Sharma, from Soniya Vihar in Delhi, told Reuters before she was detained that many people in her area had lost their right to vote.
Why Gyanesh Kumar is the target
The SIR is a house-to-house check of voter lists. Election officials visit homes to confirm who lives where, add eligible voters and remove names of people who have died, moved or been registered twice.
The Election Commission describes it as a “participative exercise,” and has asked political parties to appoint their own agents at every polling booth to make it transparent, according to its official announcement.
Critics say the process has removed millions of names, and that genuine voters, often poorer people who struggle with documents, have lost their right to vote. They hold Kumar responsible as head of the Commission.
These are allegations. It has not been proven that eligible voters were removed on purpose, or that any election result was affected. Kumar has not responded to the demands for his resignation or commented on the protests, Reuters reported.
We looked at earlier questions about how decisions are made inside the Election Commission.
Opposition parties join in
The protests are no longer only a youth movement. An alliance of opposition parties plans to march to the Election Commission’s office in Delhi on Tuesday, as part of protests to “save democracy,” with more rallies across the country to follow.
That gives the campaign two tracks: young people organising online and in the streets, and established parties with large networks of supporters.
Why October 10 matters
The rally comes while the voter-list process is still open. On September 26, the Election Commission extended its deadlines in Delhi and Maharashtra, after requests from both states’ chief electoral officers, according to United News of India.
Voters in Delhi can now file claims and objections, including asking for a missing name to be added back, until October 30. The final list for Delhi is due on December 4. In Maharashtra, the deadline for claims is October 12, and the final list is due on November 16.
That means people who say their names were wrongly removed still have an official way to get back on the list. The rally will show how many of them trust that process, and how many don’t.
Dipke has said that if police try to stop his supporters, “wherever they stop us will become our Jantar Mantar.”
The big question is what kind of protest October 10 becomes. It could stay a youth-led rally. Or, with opposition parties already marching, it could become something much bigger.
What happens next
On Tuesday, opposition parties march to the Election Commission in Delhi.
On October 10, the CJP plans its rally at Jantar Mantar.
On October 12, the deadline for claims and objections closes in Maharashtra. In Delhi, it stays open until October 30.
Kumar has still not spoken publicly about the protests. Whether he does, and what he says, may decide how large they grow.
By The Lion Capital Editorial Team | October 2026