New Delhi: The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), Left-backed students’ organisations AISA, SFI and AISF, and AAP’s student outfit ASAP, Wednesday announced a joint march to Jantar Mantar on Oct 10, demanding the resignation of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar who, they said, should face criminal proceedings for the alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.This is the first time in recent months that several student and youth outfits have announced that they will march for a national issue. Their announcement came at a news conference at the Press Club of India by CJP’s Saurav Das and Ratna Singh, SFI’s Adarsh Saji, AISA’s Neha Bora, AISF’s Viraaj Devang, ASAP’s Eeshna Gupta and Youth for Swaraj’s Sandeep Yadav. The outfits gave a “Dilli Chalo” call, asking people from across the country to assemble in the capital.“The fight all of us are fighting is not divided along party lines, not divided by student organisations’ different banners,” Bora said. “The fight has only one name — the people of India versus BJP and those who want to destroy our democracy,” she said.The Oct 10 protest would be “marked in history” as the moment when, with democratic rights under attack, people “broke political party barriers” and reached Jantar Mantar to demand accountability from the Election Commission, Bora said.The group wants the SIR exercise to be frozen and a rollback to the Jan 2025 electoral rolls. It also wants an independent inquiry into decisions taken during the SIR. The outfits also demanded a review of the law governing the appointment of election commissioners.Das appealed to people who may travel to the protest from other states to “come with bags packed”. “It is not going to be a one-day fight. It will be a long fight. Be prepared to stay here for long,” he said.CJP also warned that govt could create obstacles. Das alleged that “right-wing extremist organisations” were being mobilised to target the protesters. “Why are you pitting people against each other? Do you want civil war in the country?” he asked.He said the organisers had intimated Delhi Police about the march as organising to “protest is a fundamental right”. Police have not given permission yet.CJP’s Ratna Singh raised concerns over the alleged harassment of journalists and YouTubers covering the protests. She also alleged that police were asking female officers to file complaints that protesters had harassed them. The allegations could not be independently verified.Das said govt should call a delegation of youths to hear their concerns if it believes that there was wrongdoing in the voter-roll revision.
