Denied a venue, they came anyway: Gen Z-led voter-roll protest grips Mumbai's Shivaji Park

Mumbai, Oct 2: On a Gandhi Jayanti charged with symbolism, the Gen Z-led Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) took its demand for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to Shivaji Park in Dadar — hours after Mumbai Police denied permission for the gathering, citing the venue's status as a silence zone.

The protest, called for 4 pm near Gate No. 6 of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Park, drew a swelling crowd waving the Tricolour. Actors Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi and musician Vishal Dadlani joined the demonstrators, lending the agitation a cultural weight beyond party lines. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, declaring that 'Season 2 begins', announced a 'Jail Bharo Andolan' after the police refusal — daring the authorities to arrest peaceful protesters.

The protesters' core allegation is stark: that the Election Commission manipulated voter rolls through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in ways that favour the ruling BJP. 'We have been asking and demanding for a change, but nothing of that is going to happen if our only tool that is left to change anything in our society, the right to vote, is taken away from us,' CJP convenor Saurav Das told ANI. 'We will only end the protest after Gyanesh Kumar resigns.'

The agitation follows a damning Indian Express investigation reporting that the poll chief's two deputies — Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi — formally raised concerns at least 14 times over the past ten months about voter-list revisions, registration procedures and the Commission's digital systems. Critics say the nationwide voter-verification exercise launched last year removed millions of eligible voters from the rolls.

The Election Commission has rejected suggestions of a split in the three-member panel, saying differing views are a normal part of internal deliberation and that all its actions, including the SIR, were lawful and taken unanimously. The government has denied the manipulation charges.

Parallel protests by student and civil-society groups were planned at Delhi's Jantar Mantar, and the CJP says it will expand demonstrations to cities across India in the coming days. What began as an ultimatum — resign by September 26 — has become a street movement. As Reuters noted, the row has put unprecedented scrutiny on an institution long regarded as one of the country's most trusted.