Thousands of demonstrators assembled outside Mumbai's Shivaji Park on Friday, marking the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, to call for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The protest was organised by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) in response to allegations of widespread irregularities in electoral rolls and the Commission's special intensive revision (SIR) exercise.
Although police permission was not obtained, protesters sat near the park's gates in Dadar, waving the national flag and raising slogans such as 'Gyanesh, it's done, bro' and 'Inquilab Zindabad'. Patriotic songs played in the background as participants expressed anger over what they described as an assault on democratic rights.
Prominent figures including actor Shabana Azmi and singer Vishal Dadlani addressed the crowd, emphasising that the right to vote is constitutional and must be protected. Azmi stated that if voting rights are undermined, citizens have a duty to protest, while Dadlani linked the strength of democracy to electoral integrity.
CJP leaders Abhijeet Dipke, Ashutosh Ranka, Saurav Das, and legal head Ratna Singh spoke at the gathering, accusing the Election Commission of acting on undisclosed orders and demanding criminal proceedings against Kumar. They called for freezing the SIR process, restoring the January 2025 voter list, and repealing the 2023 law governing EC appointments to make way for a transparent system with civil society oversight.
Protesters also highlighted the impact on marginalised communities, citing examples of Assam flood-affected individuals and transgender persons without identity cards allegedly being erased from voter rolls. A senior police officer from Dadar estimated the crowd size at 4,000 to 5,000, with around 800 police personnel and riot control units deployed nearby.
