The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) on Friday rubbished a report claiming its founder, Abhijeet Dipke, was detained by Mumbai police at Marine Drive, hours before the group’s planned protest against chief election commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Gandhi Jayanti.
The CJP has announced a protest at 4 pm on Friday at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Park, near Gate No. 6, as part of a nationwide agitation against the EC.
Dipke has said the agitation will continue until Kumar resigns, arguing that public confidence in the electoral process has been eroded.
After being asked to meet senior officials, the CJP founder was reported to have exited the police station minutes later. Dipke has claimed that around 13 crore voters have been deleted from electoral rolls since 2024. He has linked the alleged deletions to the close vote-share difference between the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the opposition INDIA bloc in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Dipke gathered at Marine Drive with a group of supporters when a police team, including a woman inspector, approached him and escorted him to the police station in a van, according to the report. The officer also asked him about his identity and hometown during the journey, the press report said. He said that changes to electoral rolls could have implications for election outcomes.
Opposition steps up pressure
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav , RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah and CPI(M) general secretary MA Baby were among leaders from 21 Opposition parties who met in New Delhi on September 30 to discuss a joint strategy for the next phase of political action.
