By Dr. Gyan Pathak
The first week of anti-CEC agitation – 2 to 8 October, originally called by 19 political parties of INDIA bloc on September 30, now looks like the beginning of a broader electoral-rights movement in India. Several streams are converging: INDIA bloc parties, the youth-led by Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), student organisations, civil-society activists, academics, and increasingly ordinary citizens. The next big thing to watch is October 10 Jantar Mantar mobilization in New Delhi.
The biggest achievement of the first week of anti-CEC agitation is the widening of is political and social base and well as its geographical spread. As for political base is concerned, TVK of Tamil Nadu has joined the INDIA bloc and has its own protest programmes in the state to be organized next week. DMK which is not part of INDIA bloc has lately supported the agitation of INDIA bloc. AAP which is not part of INDIA bloc has its own protest programmes. BJD which is not part of INDIA bloc participated in October 6, MPs march to ECI.
As for widening of social base, CJP associated youth have mobilized and demonstrated in Mumbai and Bengaluru. Students groups included AISA, SFI, DYFI, and NSUI. Youth Congress also participated. Civil society groups also organized protests, in which academician, activists, lawyers, artists and other general populace also participated. Many public figures are participating in the protests. By October 8, the protests are spread in almost all states in the country including Delhi, Bihar, Karnataka, Odisha, Maharashtra, Haryana, Telangana, and Tripura. Protests have been announced for Uttar Pradesh.
Such a conversance and geographical spread of the protests seems like beginning of a bigger electoral rights movement in India. It is no longer only political party led protest, and can’t be dismissed as such. It is a movement involving youth organisations, students, lawyers, RTI activists, academics, artists and non-party citizens, and therefore can’t be characterizes and dismissed as opposition politics.
CJP can be characterised a different front for the electoral-rights movement, that do not only demand resignation or removal of the CEC, but also overhauling of the entire electoral system of India. CJP has already moved beyond Delhi and Mumbai, to Bengaluru in Karnataka, where it organised People’s Tribunal concerning SIR and Chappal Protest on October 8. CJP is functioning as an important bridge between the Gen-Z or youth protest culture and the older opposition or civil-society ecosystem.
The issue itself has shifted from “resignation of the CED” to a much larger questions, which is perhaps the most consequential change during the week. Though immediate slogan remains CEC Gyanesh Kumar must resign, to reforming the entire electoral system. Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has said the PM Narendra Modi, HM Amit Shah, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, and CEC Gyanesh Kumar have hijacked the electoral democracy of India and committed treason, and all of them would be brought to justice.
The issue has become even more serious with the intervention of the Supreme Court of India on October 5, when it said that it never approved changes in Form 6. Supreme Court has sought reply for Centre, CEC, and other ECI officials and said that if any decision will be found not accordance to law, will be annulled. The allegations are serious enough to have entered the constitutional and legal arena.
The police response in the last week in Delhi has itself become part of the political narrative which is just another important feature of the one week of protest. They have detained protesters and forcefully removed them from the sites of protests. Police have even detained Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, and other MPs on October 6 and 7. The ruling BJP has been trying to turn the heat on Rahul Gandhi saying that he behaved improperly with women police force, while the opposition said that protester MPs were manhandled and police applied force to remove them from the protest sites. The Centre has deployed 24000 police personnel to handle the protests and now preparing for the proposed October 10 protests at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. This creates a new political dynamics – the original issues being electoral integrity, but police restrictions and repeated detentions are adding another issue – that is freedom to protest.
The first week of agitation attracted a large numbers of unaffiliated young people, students, first-time voters, civil-society activists and citizens with individual electoral-roll grievance, and thus the week past has been giving space to something considerably broader electoral-rights movement. In short, the first week has succeeded in making the CEC/SIR controversy much harder to contain within Parliament or the Election Commission itself. It institutional and geographical spread has been significantly widened.
By the end of the week on October 8, it is no longer Delhi based INDIA-bloc protest. It has acquired a genuinely multi-centre, multi-constituency character. The changes in the last 48 hours, shows at least four overlapping mobilisation networks – INDIA bloc and opposition parties, CJP and youth-student organisations, Civil Society and public figures, and people with local electoral grievances.
It is also significant that CJP and student groups are not saying the agitation necessarily ends with the CEC’s resignation. CJP has articulated demands including freezing SIR, restoring the January 2025 rolls, an independent inquiry and changes to the 2023 law governing Election Commission appointments.
Bihar has become one of the central theatres of protests. On 7 October, INDIA/Grand Alliance parties reportedly organised “Akrosh Marches” at all 534 block headquarters in Bihar. The parties involved included RJD, Congress, CPI(ML), CPI(M), CPI, VIP and IIP.
Today, 8 October, the agitation moved upwards from the blocks and districts to Patna, where Tejashwi Yadav led a march toward the Raj Bhavan/Lok Bhavan and was detained along with Mukesh Sahani and Misa Bharti.
Odisha Bandh is another major development today which affected life across the states, but chiefly in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Bargarh, Bhadrak, Balasore, Rayagada, Kendrapara, Bolangir, Berhampur and Sambalpur.
Maharashtra has reported altogether 88 protests between 25 September and 4 October. Other states are also witnessing massive protest on October 8 as Black Day for Democracy, a call given by Congress to its rank and file.
Delhi has become the national symbol of the protests. MPs have assembled on October 8 for the third day in a row and now heading from Connaught Place to Gandhi Memorial for peaceful sit-in protest. The next week may witness even bigger agitation with wider social support, scheduled with October 10 Jantar Mantar mobilisation. (IPA Service)
