In brief
Gen‑Z activists Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were freed from Tihar jail a week after a confrontation at Delhi's historic protest square. Their brief detention followed a protest by the internet‑born Cockroach Janta Party, which calls for transparent elections and demands the resignation of the chief election commissioner. The incident has drawn attention to India’s controversial Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls that critics say favours the ruling BJP. The party, which mobilised during a leaked exam paper scandal, now challenges the commission over alleged manipulation of voter lists, raising questions about voter disenfranchisement. The leaders’ release comes amid increasing scrutiny of the Election Commission’s role amid the upcoming national polls.
Two Gen‑Z leaders of the Cockroach Janta Party have exited Tihar jail after a week of detention following a confrontation at Delhi's Jantar Mantar.
Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were arrested after crossing barricades and climbing over the locked gate at the protest site, which had recently been removed from the list of authorised locations. A special executive magistrate court quickly ordered their release, allowing the men to walk free hours later.
The CJP, which began as an internet joke after a judge compared unemployed young people to “cockroaches”, has evolved into a mass movement. It has previously mobilised thousands of students to protest leaked exam papers and, by July, had gained enough momentum to stage a march that culminated in clashes with police and the resignation of India’s education minister.
Now the group focuses on the electoral system. It accuses Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of revising the voter rolls – the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) – to benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party. The SIR has removed around 130 million names since last year, a move critics say risks disenfranchising eligible voters while the Election Commission says it cleans up duplicate and dead entries.
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