NEW DELHI
\nPrime Minister Narendra Modi will face renewed pressure on Friday as the Gen Z-led Cockroach Janata Party and a separate coalition of student and activist groups stage fresh protests, demanding the resignation of the elections commission chief over a controversial voter roll revision.
\nThe CJP will rally in Mumbai and plans to expand demonstrations nationwide in the coming days, while student and civil society groups will gather at New Delhi\u2019s Jantar Mantar. The protests mark the latest escalation in a dispute that has put unprecedented scrutiny on India\u2019s Election Commission, long regarded as one of the country\u2019s most trusted institutions.
\nThe protesters\u2019 main allegation is that the commission manipulated voter rolls in ways that favour Modi\u2019s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
\nThe commission and the government have denied the allegations. Pressure on Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar intensified last month after the Indian Express newspaper reported the election chief\u2019s two deputies had formally raised concerns at least 14 times over the past 10 months over voter-list revisions, registration procedures and the commission\u2019s digital systems.
\nThe Election Commission has said differing views are a normal part of internal deliberations and that all its actions were lawful. \u201cWe 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\u2019 is taken away from us,\u201d Saurav Das, CJP\u2019s convenor, told Indian news agency ANI on Thursday.
\n\u201cWe will only end the protest after Gyanesh Kumar resigns.\u201d The controversy centres on a nationwide voter-verification exercise launched last year that critics say has led to millions of eligible voters being removed from electoral rolls. The commission says the exercise is intended to remove duplicate, deceased or ineligible voters and ensure the accuracy of electoral rolls.
\nOpposition parties led by the Congress party are also set to begin protests demanding Kumar\u2019s resignation on October 6. The CJP, a youth movement that emerged earlier this year from online frustration over unemployment and leaked examination papers, has become an unexpected political force.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW DELHI Prime Minister Narendra Modi will face renewed pressure on Friday as the Gen Z-led Cockroach Janata Party and a separate coalition of student and activist groups stage fresh protests, demanding the resignation of the elections commission chief over a controversial voter roll revision. The CJP will rally in Mumbai and plans to expand […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":570313,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-570300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n