Tens of thousands of people gathered at Shivaji Park in Mumbai on Friday — Gandhi Jayanti — as the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) launched the second phase of its protest drive, with party representatives urging Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to vacate his post over what the organisation characterised as procedural irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process for updating electoral rolls.

Attendees at the demonstration — a follow-up to the party's earlier gathering at Jantar Mantar in Delhi — raised national flags and held placards calling for Kumar to step down. Permission for the gathering was withheld by Mumbai Police, which also took steps to block CJP members from assembling at the location, pointing to noise pollution and traffic disruption as its grounds. Demonstrators carried their action forward even as a substantial security presence was deployed around them.

Abhijeet Dipke, the founder of CJP, put organisers on notice that a "Jail Bharo Andolan" would be set in motion should the protest encounter any interference. Speaking to those assembled, he warned that the movement would press on and called for a second demonstration at Jantar Mantar should the Chief Election Commissioner decline to step down, adding that young people from across the country would converge on Delhi if Gyanesh Kumar remained in his post. Dipke urged supporters to march on Delhi, stating that a repeat demonstration at Jantar Mantar was on the horizon.

Dipke extended appreciation to the Mumbai Police for their conduct on the day, while directing pointed remarks at the Delhi Police over how demonstrators had been handled during the party's previous protest at Jantar Mantar. Officers who carried out their duties during that period received acknowledgement from Dipke for their service. Dipke remarked that Delhi Police had something to learn from the way Mumbai Police operated.

CJP representative Saurav Das also raised concerns about Delhi Police's handling of protesters at Jantar Mantar, stating in an attributed remark that the force had once again turned to heavy-handed tactics against those gathered there. Das conveyed that Delhi Police faced a choice between self-directed reform or having change imposed upon them from outside.

Four specific outcomes form the core of what the CJP is pressing for: Kumar's removal from his post, the initiation of criminal proceedings against him, a halt to the SIR exercise, and reinstatement of the voter list that was in place as of January 2025. The party has additionally pushed for the 2023 legislation on Election Commissioner appointments to be struck down, along with broader structural changes to the Election Commission. CJP leader Ajinkya Shinde stated that Gyanesh Kumar should step down from his post and face criminal proceedings.

Among its other calls, the party put forward a push for the appointment of the next Election Commissioner to be handled through an open, independently run process that would bring civil society voices into the selection.

Dipke put forward claims that voter rolls had been stripped of substantial numbers of registrants, and raised doubts about shifts in tallied outcomes that followed each revision of those lists. Pointing to the 2024 Lok Sabha contest, he noted that the BJP took nine of Maharashtra's 48 parliamentary seats, yet when voters returned to the polls roughly half a year later for the state Assembly race, the party's fortunes shifted considerably. He asked how the transformation had come about.

Dipke put forward the assertion that roughly 130 million names had been removed from voter rolls over a two-year span. Among the further claims put forward was that roughly 40 lakh names had been inserted into Maharashtra's voter lists before the state Assembly polls, while deletions from rolls had reportedly affected constituencies spanning Delhi, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal. No independent means of confirming the allegations were available.

Dipke went on to allege that the BJP has been systematically dismantling regional parties throughout India, citing the splits within both the Shiv Sena and the NCP in Maharashtra as illustrations of this pattern, while also describing the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena as little more than an organisational shell with no substantive base. He went on to take issue with the concurrent elections proposal, arguing that the Bharatiya Janata Party's underlying aim amounted to what he described as a consolidation of nation, elections, and party under a single umbrella.

Crowds that included Student Federation of India members — waving placards, drumming, and raising their voices in song — gathered at Shivaji Park despite police restrictions being in effect at the time. Among the placards on display were messages questioning whether Gyanesh trusted democratic processes, calling on him to step down, and labelling him a traitor who should leave. Among the placards on display were satirical designs drawing on film imagery, with the Chief Election Commissioner serving as the focal point of that visual commentary.

Adorned in accessories crafted from 'Melody' chocolate wrappers, student Manish Mandal stood carrying a placard bearing the phrase "Fraud detergent powder" written in Devanagari script.

Among those who gathered at the protest were actors Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi, directors Vishal Bhardwaj and Hansal Mehta, musician and composer Vishal Dadlani, and Tushar Gandhi, a descendant of Mahatma Gandhi through his great-grandson lineage. Music from the film "Rang De Basanti" and A R Rahman's composition "Vande Mataram" featured among the tracks put on during the event. Displayed across the backdrop were inscribed passages on non-violence and simplicity, alongside dedications honouring Babasaheb Ambedkar.

Backing for the demonstration came from Shiv Sena (UBT), whose members aligned themselves with those taking part. The area's MLA, Mahesh Sawant, attributed Aaditya Thackeray's absence to an illness keeping the party leader away.

Dipke argued that the CJP had been left with little option but to stage a second demonstration within two months, pointing to what he described as the government's failure to act on public concerns. According to Dipke, Maharashtra was where the organisation first directed its focus because that state was identified as the origin point of the disputed electoral roll discrepancies that underpinned the action against Kumar.

When Mumbai Police withheld permission for the rally, Dipke addressed supporters by framing their collective push as one aimed squarely at those in power, drawing on the legacy of Gandhian non-compliance as a point of reference. Mahatma Gandhi, a prominent figure in the independence movement, led campaigns of civil resistance against British colonial rule in India. He noted that Mumbai carries deep ties to Mahatma Gandhi's legacy, adding that colonial authorities had not permitted such political organising in their time. The speaker noted that Gawalia Tank — a Mumbai ground then known as Bombay — served as the site where Mahatma Gandhi set the Quit India movement in motion on 9 August 1942, a location since renamed August Kranti Maidan.

Demonstrations in Kolkata, Goa, Bengaluru, and Ranchi are among the stops the CJP outlined for its protest schedule ahead of any return to Delhi.

Fadnavis, in remarks made earlier that Friday, indicated that any demonstrators who proceeded with the planned protest faced the prospect of a three-day detention period before a bail application could be considered. Dipke's reply took the form of the Marathi phrase "Mee punha yein" — a line that Fadnavis had deployed in a pre-election address before the 2019 Assembly polls to considerable public effect.