New Delhi: The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) on Friday called on opposition parties to boycott elections, arguing that continuing to participate in polls
they allege are being rigged only legitimises the process. The call came amid the ongoing controversy over the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke argued that opposition parties cannot claim elections are being rigged while continuing to contest them, and urged them to “take a stand and stop participating in rigged elections”. The boycott call, however, has drawn a sharp response from opposition leaders, with parties arguing that withdrawing from elections could hurt their ability to challenge the BJP politically.
For opposition:
Yes, elections are being rigged. But when you continue to participate in rigged elections, you legitimise these elections and help maintain the illusion that they are free and fair.
Maybe you keep contesting because you fear that if you don’t, you will stop…— Abhijeet Dipke (@abhijeet_dipke) September 25, 2026
What Opposition Leaders Said
NCP-SP leader Anish Gawande said the concerns raised by the CJP reflected wider frustration among opposition parties and voters over what he described as increasing irregularities in the electoral process.
“Today, it is incumbent upon the opposition to continue raising these issues while preventing the BJP from getting away with a unilateral victory, because this is precisely what the BJP wants,” Gawande told Times Now Digital.
He added that the Opposition would continue fighting and reaching out to voters despite what he described as attempts to rig elections.
"In the face of this, we will continue fighting despite the attempts to rig elections and reach out to voters to convince them that their vote is being discarded and their voices are being discarded by those sitting in an independent body called the Election Commission of India," he said.
On the CJP’s boycott call, DMK leader A Saravanan said such a move could end up hurting the Opposition.
“The CJP claims that the opposition parties or the other parties which question the legitimacy of the elections conducted under the ECI should not participate in the elections and boycott. See, this is one view of the matter. It'll do more harm than good, since it'll be portrayed as though we are afraid to contest the elections against the BJP,” Saravanan said.
He added that elections would continue regardless of an Opposition boycott.
“They will conduct the elections and proceed to win the election, and India will become a tinpot dictatorship. We should not allow that,” he said.
CPI Rajya Sabha MP P Sandosh Kumar also rejected the boycott proposal, saying the Opposition should instead intensify its campaign against the Election Commission.
“Our position on SIR is very clear. It is the systematic, intensive removal of voters. And that is why more than 12 crore voters were affected,” Kumar said.
He said participating in elections did not amount to legitimising the process and argued that the Opposition had already raised concerns over the Election Commission.
“And no point in boycotting the elections. Joining election means, thereby we are not compromising or legitimizing this process. We have already very clearly exposed the Election Commission,” he said.
Kumar described the boycott as “an impractical idea” and said the Opposition should focus on demanding Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation.
“So boycott is an impractical idea. We need to step up our campaign with more and more participation,” he said, adding that “Gyanesh Kumar should resign” should remain the focus of the Opposition’s campaign.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena UBT leader Adv. Jayesh Wani said the party’s position on CJP founder Abhijit Dipke’s election boycott proposal would be decided by Uddhav Thackeray and officially announced by the party.
“As a person, I am partly agreed that if the election is manipulated in such a manner, then election will serve no purpose and democracy will be on the stake. On other hand, if political parties decide not to contest election, in that situation, the democracy will be ended and autocracy will be entered on a pilot mode automatically as BJP decided,” he said.
The CJP’s boycott call comes a day after the party gave Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar a 48-hour ultimatum to resign and threatened a nationwide agitation, including “Jantar Mantar 2.0”, if he does not step down.
The CJP’s demands followed reports of objections raised by Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi over aspects of electoral-roll management. The Election Commission has maintained that differing views and written observations are part of the normal deliberative process and that final decisions, including those on SIR, were unanimous.
