CJP protest: India 'cockroach' leaders who called on election chief to quit are freed from jail - BBC News                            (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c674p0xepljeo)  (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c674p0xepljeo)  (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c674p0xepljeo)  (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c674p0xepljeo)  (../../../static.files.bbci.co.uk/core/website/assets/static/icons/touch/news/touch-icon-36.413a37b227.png)  (../../../static.files.bbci.co.uk/core/website/assets/static/icons/touch/news/touch-icon-48.010dc96bcf.png)  (../../../static.files.bbci.co.uk/core/website/assets/static/icons/touch/news/touch-icon-57.1fcd0dc805.png)  (../../../static.files.bbci.co.uk/core/website/assets/static/icons/touch/news/touch-icon-60.52f68a148f.png)  (../../../static.files.bbci.co.uk/core/website/assets/static/icons/touch/news/touch-icon-72.f155fdb25f.png)  (../../../static.files.bbci.co.uk/core/website/assets/static/icons/touch/news/touch-icon-76.cb5ee392d4.png)  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(https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world/asia) Asia   (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world/asia/china) China   (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world/asia/india) India           India 'cockroach' leaders who called on election chief to quit are freed from jail      (Saurav Das, chief spokesperson of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), and Ashutosh Ranka, CJP co-convenor, speak to the media after being released following a hearing before a Special Executive Magistrate, in New Delhi, India, October 21, 2026. REUTERS/Bhawika Chhabra)    Image source,  Reuters  Image caption,  Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka have spent a week in jail after being accused of trespassing       By Abhishek Dey BBC News      Published 3 hours ago           Two leaders of the Gen Z-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) have been freed from jail a week after they were arrested for trespassing at a banned protest site in Delhi.  Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka walked out of Tihar jail hours after a magistrate ordered their release. They had been detained by police (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c6q8n09l1ny0o) and jailed after they crossed barricades and climbed over the locked gate at Jantar Mantar. The historic venue was recently (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c6kgqjvdv4n2o) removed from a list of designated protest sites.  The men, who denied wrongdoing, have been calling on India's chief election commissioner to resign. Critics accuse the commission of manipulating voter rolls to benefit India's governing party, charges the commission rejects.  A special executive magistrate court in Delhi, passed their release order, legal news website Bar and Bench reported. After bail was granted, Das told reporters from a police van: "Truth alone triumphs. Long live the revolution." Das and Ranka are key leaders of the CJP, which (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz72y11jjq1o) began as an internet joke in May after India's top judge compared unemployed young people to "cockroaches".      (CJP's Ashutosh Ranka seen holding the Indian flag with police dragging him)    Image source,  Ashutosh Ranka/X  Image caption,  CJP members were detained by police after unfurling the Indian flag and shouting  slogans at Jantar Mantar       The CJP is not a registered political party, but a collective which 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 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdx828gj5xko) resignation of India's education minister . The CJP has since shifted its focus to India's electoral system.  Along with opposition parties, students and other critics of the government, it accuses Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar of revising electoral rolls, 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 have rejected the allegation. The SIR exercise has resulted in around 130 million names being removed from voter lists since last year. Critics warn that the process could also exclude eligible voters, potentially denying them their right to vote, while the Election Commission says the exercise is intended to remove ineligible, dead and duplicate entries.  Follow BBC News India on  (https://www.instagram.com/bbcnewsindia/) Instagram , external  ,  (https://www.youtube.com/@bbcnewsindia/featured) YouTube, , external   (https://x.com/BBCIndia) Twitter , external  and  (https://www.facebook.com/bbcindia/) Facebook , external  .      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