India's "cockroach" movement leaders who urged election chief to resign freed from jail
Leaders of India's youth protest collective CJP, who had called on Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to resign, have been released from jail. The group grew out of protests over leaked exam papers and now focuses on a dispute over voter list revisions.
Leaders of the CJP, an Indian protest collective that media describe as the "cockroach" movement, have been freed from jail. They had publicly called for the resignation of Gyanesh Kumar, India's Chief Election Commissioner, who heads the body that runs elections in the country. The case adds to a growing dispute over how the country's voter lists are being revised.
From an exam scandal to a political force
The CJP is not a registered political party. It is a collective that began by mobilising thousands of young people to protest over leaked exam papers. By July it had emerged as a major force. A march towards parliament that month ended in clashes with police, drawing wider attention to the movement and increasing pressure on the government. The unrest eventually led to the resignation of India's education minister.
A focus on the electoral system
The group has since turned its attention to the electoral system. Together with opposition parties, students and other critics of the government, it accuses Kumar of revising electoral rolls in an exercise known as the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) to benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi's governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Both the BJP and the Election Commission reject the allegation.
Since last year, the SIR has resulted in around 130 million names being removed from voter lists. Critics warn that the process could also exclude eligible voters and deny them the right to vote. The Election Commission says the exercise is meant to remove ineligible, dead and duplicate entries.
