Bengaluru CJP Protest: CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke and YouTuber Dhruv Rathee are set to hold a 'Chappal Protest' at Freedom Park in Bengaluru on Thursday, following a People’s Tribunal on the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. The program is scheduled to begin at 10:30 am.
Actor-activist Prakash Raj will also participate in the event. CJP co-convenor Ashutosh Ranka announced the protest on Wednesday in a social media post, stating, "Thursday will be a very eventful day for Bengaluru. The event will begin at 10:30 am at Freedom Park," and highlighting that it will spotlight individuals who organisers claim were removed from the voter list during the SIR exercise.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Prakash Raj wrote, "People''s Tribunal by Cockroaches (Cockroach Janata Party)... Dipke... Ashutosh... Sourav and all the youth organisations and the civil society... the victims of SIR from across the state will be present."
"Requesting all the citizens to participate in this fight to save our democracy. Come join us tomorrow, 8th October, at Freedom Park... Bengaluru," he added.
This comes ahead of the CJP’s October 10 protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar. The CJP, AISA, AISF, SFI, and ASAP have called for a united mobilisation against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, backing the INDIA bloc MPs’ October 6 protest march towards the EC.
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Why is CJP holding ‘Chappal protest’ in Bengaluru?
The protest is part of a broader campaign against the SIR exercise and the Election Commission under Gyanesh Kumar. The People’s Tribunal is being organised by civil society groups from across Karnataka to address widespread concerns regarding voter deletions during the revision exercise.
The CJP and other people's organisations are demanding that all voter deletions made during the SIR be reversed, and that the pre-SIR voter list be reinstated. They are also seeking the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging severe irregularities in the electoral process.
"See how Gyanesh Kumar’s Election Commission ensured that only ONE out of 909 persons in this Delhi settlement survive the SIR." "This is the Bela Estate settlement in Delhi’s Chandni Chowk constituency where 908 out of 909 voters have been deleted during the SIR in Delhi." Das said.
"This is only a small sample of what Gyanu has actually done NATIONWIDE, against the people of India, all in the service of ONE political party," he added.
Das further claimed that more than 13 crore voters have been deleted nationwide.
"13+ crore voters have been deleted from the voters list across India. 98 crore eligible voters existed in 2024. The biggest disenfranchisement exercise in the world, under Gyanu, at the behest of Modi and Shah!," Das said. 'Now these people and the young generation will ensure Gyanu’s accountability starting October 10th," Das said.
CJP's Three Demands
The CJP has outlined three key demands as part of its campaign:
- The immediate resignation of Gyanesh Kumar alongside criminal action against him.
- An immediate halt to the SIR exercise.
- The establishment of an independent and neutral appointment process for Election Commissioners.