BENGALURU: Founder of the Cockroach Janata Party Abhijit Dipke on Thursday alleged that voter deletions under the SIR were aimed at disenfranchising those opposed to the BJP and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the EC of "undermining" democracy.

Speaking at the “People’s Tribunal” organised by various civil society groups in Bengaluru, which was attended by YouTuber Dhruv Rathee and actor-activist Prakash Raj, Dipke said people whose names had allegedly been deleted from electoral rolls were present at the event to demonstrate that they were alive.

“Narendra Modi became Prime Minister by deleting and stealing votes, he charged.

Dipke said, "People who were declared dead are standing here alive. So the death that has taken place is not the death of these people. It is the death of the democracy of this country."

The CJP founder alleged that Election Commission officials, including Chief Election Commissioner Dnyanesh Kumar, had deleted the votes of people at the alleged direction of Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

He charged that the RSS ideology did not believe in an inclusive India or the philosophies of B R Ambedkar and Periyar, and instead invoked Nathuram Godse.

“We have to fight against that ideology to save our democracy and to save our country,” he said.

Describing Mahatma Gandhi as the “soul” of India, Ambedkar as its “backbone” and Jawaharlal Nehru as its “mind”, Dipke said the country’s foundation was laid by the three leaders.

He said Modi could not compare himself with them and alleged that he wanted to remain in power longer than Nehru by deleting votes.

He praised Nehru for conducting the first general election in 1951 and extending voting rights to people who, he said, had neither knowledge of elections nor documents.

“It was the brilliance of Nehru, who gave people rights that they were not even aware of,” he said.

Dipke alleged that “One Nation, One Election” was merely a slogan and alleged that the real intention was “One Nation, One Party”, comparing the alleged intention with that of German dictator Adolf Hitler.

He said India could not be turned into a dictatorship and invoked Gandhi’s legacy.

“Even if your people might have killed Mahatma Gandhi, as long as people are standing here, Mahatma Gandhi lives inside every one of us. They will not be able to kill the idea of Mahatma Gandhi,” he said.

Referring to the 2024 Lok Sabha election, Dipke claimed that the difference between the BJP and the Opposition was only two per cent and said the BJP, which had projected the slogan “Abki baar 400 paar”, won 240 seats.

He alleged that this led to a decision to delete the votes of people who did not support the BJP. “If people do not vote for us, we will delete their votes themselves,” he claimed, attributing the alleged approach to the BJP.

Dipke claimed that 13 crore votes had been deleted across India and around one crore in Karnataka, saying the figure represented 13 to 14 per cent of the registered vote share. He alleged that such deletions had helped the BJP win states it could not have won even during the peak of the Modi wave.

Citing examples, he claimed 50,000 votes were deleted in a constituency associated with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, where she allegedly lost by 15,000 votes; around 40,000 in Arvind Kejriwal’s constituency, where he allegedly lost by about 4,000 votes; and one lakh in a constituency associated with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, where he claimed the margin was 9,000 to 10,000 votes.

He also referred to Kerala and the subsequent exit of Pinarayi Vijayan as chief minister.

Dipke alleged that the four leaders had campaigned against Modi during the 2024 election and helped prevent the BJP from securing a majority.

“The pattern is to destroy regional forces. The pattern is to destroy regional leaders so that these RSS goons can impose their ideology on us,” he said.

He alleged that the process had moved from lynchings to the deletion of votes of those who did not support the BJP, but said such efforts would not succeed as people had begun to mobilise.

Urging the gathering to take to the streets to “save the democracy of India”, Dipke said the country could be saved only if people’s votes were protected.

“They call us cockroaches because they want us to live like cockroaches. But we also need to be resilient like a cockroach that never dies,” he said, referring to the name of his political outfit.

Dipke then announced what he described as the “next wicket”, naming Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar after claiming the first wicket was Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

He linked the alleged political contest to delimitation, claiming that it could reduce the representation of South India in Parliament.

“We will never let delimitation happen because it is the South that will lead India. The South will lead the fight to save democracy, and the South will lead India in the future,” he said.

Dipke concluded with slogans targeting CEC Gyanesh Kumar, saying, “Now, Gyanu, your turn has come".