DIPKE QUESTIONS MODI’S PROTECTION OF ELECTION CHIEF AS VOTER-ROLL CONTROVERSY SPARKS FRESH PROTESTS

October 16, 2026

NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 16: Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke has sharply criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the government’s measures to protect Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, questioning why the authorities were deploying extensive security and imposing restrictions amid protests against the electoral chief.

Addressing a media conference in New Delhi on Thursday alongside Left student leaders, Dipke questioned the restrictions on Metro and train services and the deployment of security personnel ahead of the CJP’s planned ‘Lehra Do Tiranga’ march to Connaught Place. He also challenged the authorities’ treatment of protesters carrying the national flag, asking when displaying the Tricolour had become a crime.

Dipke alleged that the government’s extensive efforts to shield Kumar raised questions about the Election Commission’s independence. He cited the 2024 Lok Sabha election victory margin, which he described as approximately two per cent, and contrasted it with the deletion of more than 13 crore voter names during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. He suggested that the scale of the deletions warranted serious scrutiny, while questioning whether the process could influence electoral outcomes.

The controversy follows the arrests of CJP leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka after they entered the Jantar Mantar area carrying the national flag, a day after the location had been denotified as an official protest site.

Left student organisations, including AISA, SFI and AISF, have extended support to the planned march. AISA president Neha Bora also criticised the police response to the protests and raised concerns about the treatment of journalists covering the demonstrations.

Dipke subsequently declared that the march would proceed even if participants faced arrest. The developments have intensified the confrontation over electoral transparency, the treatment of demonstrators and the independence of India’s election machinery.