CJP founder Dipke claims SIR targeted Pinarayi Vijayan for opposing Modi in 2024 polls

Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) founder Abhijit Dipke accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Election Commission of systematically deleting opposition voters across India on Thursday.

Speaking at a "People's Tribunal" organised by civil society groups in Bengaluru, Dipke named former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan among key regional leaders targeted after campaigning against Modi during the 2024 general election. He claimed that prominent figures—including Vijayan, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, Delhi’s Arvind Kejriwal, Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray, and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)—had united during the 2024 polls to prevent the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from securing an absolute majority.

Dipke alleged that the ruling party panicked after being restricted to 240 seats despite its "Abki baar 400 paar" campaign slogan, prompting a calculated effort to neutralise regional opposition forces. Referring to previous statements made at a press conference in September, he argued that narrow election losses suffered by these key leaders were driven by targeted deletions rather than genuine shifts in public sentiment.

Allegations of targeted voter deletions

Presenting individuals at the Bengaluru event who had allegedly been struck off electoral rolls under the Summary Revision (SIR) process, Dipke noted that citizens declared dead were present in person to prove they were alive. The event was also attended by YouTuber Dhruv Rathee and actor-activist Prakash Raj.

"People who were declared dead are standing here alive. So the death that has taken place is not the death of these people. It is the death of the democracy of this country," Dipke declared. He further charged that "Narendra Modi became Prime Minister by deleting and stealing votes".

Dipke directly accused Chief Election Commissioner Dnyanesh Kumar, alongside Prime Minister Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, of orchestrating the vote deletions. Citing specific constituencies, he claimed that 50,000 votes were deleted in Mamata Banerjee’s constituency where she lost by 15,000 votes, 40,000 votes were removed in Arvind Kejriwal’s constituency leading to a loss by 4,000 to 5,000 votes, and 100,000 votes were wiped out in M K Stalin’s seat where the margin was between 9,000 and 45,000 votes, alongside Vijayan's subsequent exit in Kerala.

Across the country, Dipke claimed that 13 crore votes had been removed from electoral rolls, including approximately one crore in Karnataka alone—representing 13 to 14 per cent of registered voters. Attributing a strategy to the ruling party, he alleged, "If people do not vote for us, we will delete their votes themselves". He added that the national vote share difference between the BJP and the Opposition was merely two per cent.

Historical figures invoked against ruling ideology

Critiquing the ruling ideology, Dipke charged that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) rejects the inclusive principles of B R Ambedkar and Periyar, choosing instead to invoke Nathuram Godse. "We have to fight against that ideology to save our democracy and to save our country," he asserted.

Describing Mahatma Gandhi as the "soul" of India, Ambedkar as its "backbone", and Jawaharlal Nehru as its "mind", Dipke argued that modern political figures could not match their foundational contributions. Praising Nehru for implementing universal adult franchise during the first general election in 1951, Dipke remarked, "It was the brilliance of Nehru, who gave people rights that they were not even aware of".

He also condemned the proposed "One Nation, One Election" initiative, describing it as a push for "One Nation, One Party" and comparing its intent to the authoritarian regime of Adolf Hitler. Reaffirming constitutional resilience, Dipke said, "Even if your people might have killed Mahatma Gandhi, as long as people are standing here, Mahatma Gandhi lives inside every one of us. They will not be able to kill the idea of Mahatma Gandhi".

Focus on southern leadership and delimitation

Dipke warned that political tactics had shifted from physical violence and lynchings to systematic voter disenfranchisement. "The pattern is to destroy regional forces. The pattern is to destroy regional leaders so that these RSS goons can impose their ideology on us," he stated.

Addressing the name of his own political outfit, Dipke explained, "They call us cockroaches because they want us to live like cockroaches. But we also need to be resilient like a cockroach that never dies".

He expressed strong opposition to parliamentary delimitation, arguing that the process threatens to diminish South India's parliamentary representation. "We will never let delimitation happen because it is the South that will lead India. The South will lead the fight to save democracy, and the South will lead India in the future," he claimed.

Following earlier claims that Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan represented a political "wicket", Dipke designated the Chief Election Commissioner as the "next wicket". Calling on the public to mobilise and take to the streets to protect their voting rights, Dipke concluded with a direct warning to the election chief: "Now, Gyanu, your turn has come".