Cockroach Movement Takes New Turn, Dhruv Rathee and Prakash Raj Joining Today

Voters who claim their names were unfairly removed from Karnataka’s electoral rolls will attend a public hearing at Freedom Park in Bengaluru today, Thursday (October 8). Prominent actor Prakash Raj and popular YouTuber Dhruv Rathee are among those supporting their campaign.
The Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) has organised the “People’s Tribunal” based on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The programme is scheduled to begin at 10:30am with the slogan “Save Our Vote, Save Democracy”. It will be followed by a shoe protest.
Prakash Raj, a vocal critic of the SIR, announced the programme on social media on Wednesday (October 7). In a video message, he described Dhruv Rathee as the “special guest” and said it would be Rathee’s first visit to Bengaluru in support of the “Scrap SIR” campaign. Rathee later confirmed his presence through a video posted on X, formerly Twitter.
“Ordinary people affected by the SIR across the state will attend the programme,” Prakash Raj said in his post. He also named CJP founder Abhijit Dipke, co-convener Ashutosh Ranka and spokesperson Saurav Das, along with several youth organisations and civil society groups. He urged ordinary citizens to join the campaign to protect democracy.
Student leader Aishe Ghosh and All India Students’ Association (AISA) president Neha Bora are also expected to speak at the event.
CJP founder Dipke said on Wednesday that he had already arrived in Bengaluru. In a video message, he also confirmed Rathee’s presence in the city.
‘Shoe protest’ over alleged harassment of journalists
Three women journalists accused Delhi Police officials of sexual harassment during a protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on October 3. The shoe protest has been organised in solidarity with the journalists.
Delhi Police said the matter was being investigated. Dipke has demanded the immediate arrest of the accused officer.
CJP has also demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Dipke warned that if Kumar does not step down, the CJP may march towards Jantar Mantar on October 10.
Figures behind the anger
A report by South Matters said more than 10.8 million names appeared under the categories “absent”, “shifted”, “dead”, “duplicate” and “others” in the draft electoral rolls published after the SIR process in Karnataka. However, the figure does not establish that all of them were wrongly removed from the rolls.
Meanwhile, Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala claimed on September 24 that nearly 130 million names had been removed from electoral rolls across 19 states since June 2025. He claimed that Karnataka alone accounted for around 14.3 million names.
The CJP began in May this year as a youth-led satirical online movement but later took to the streets. Its protests against the Election Commission intensified further last week.