Ahead of their “Jail Bharo Andolan” from Mumbai’s Shivaji Park on October 2, Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke declared on Thursday that their movement against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar would also spread to Goa, Bengaluru, Kolkata, and other cities.

Abhijeet Dipke and fellow CJP leaders, including Saurav Das, held a press conference in Mumbai on Thursday, October 1, demanding criminal action against Gyanesh Kumar.

The trigger for CJP’s Mumbai protest on Friday against the Election Commission is an Express investigation which exposed an internal rift within the poll body over SIR voter deletions.

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Dipke also appealed to political parties to join the agitation, but declared: “CJP will not be a part of INDIA bloc protests.”

“There is an andolan tomorrow; we would go to Jantar Mantar also…until Gyanesh Kumar resigns,” Dipke said. Calling CEC Gyanesh Kumar a “puppet”, Dipke said, “Next election commissioner should be elected transparently and civil society should be allowed to take part in the process.”

Ajinkya Shinde said, “After tomorrow, there will morcha protest in Goa, Bangalore, Kolkata, Ranchi. It will reach Jantar Mantar at the end of the month.”

Dipke also said that deletion of 13 crore names from the draft rolls across the three phases of SIR was “very significant”. “This is 14 percent of the votes and they have gotten rid of it…then the decision is already made.”

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“There is an illusion of democracy. EVM machine is not reliable as every electronic machine can be rigged,” the CJP founder said.

Dipke urged those joining the CJP protest not to carry banners or party flags. “Tomorrow, get the national flag. If possible, wear a Gandhi T-Shirt and sunscreen,” Pranay Ahir, the Mumbai coordinator of the CJP, said.

Referring to the violence-marred CJP protest at Jantar Mantar in July, Dipke said Mumbai Police would cooperate with the protesters.

“They are not like Delhi Police,” he said.

Addressing the younger generation, Dipke said they should respond to the brutality “by memes and humor as the government doesn’t know how to respond to it.”

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When asked about possible legal action against the protesters, Dipke said, “The government is free to proceed any legal action against me for protesting.”

Earlier, cousins Raj and Uddhav Thackeray also announced a joint protest on October 4 against the functioning of the Election Commission.