Cockroach Janta Party joins MPSC student protests and sets resignation deadline for top officials

The Cockroach Janta Party has thrown its weight behind protesting civil service aspirants in Maharashtra, setting a hard deadline of 24 September for the state's top exam officials to step down.

Abhijeet Dipke, the founder of the party, announced the ultimatum following a meeting with a group of Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) candidates at his home in the Waluj area of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar on Sunday. The party is demanding the immediate resignation of both the MPSC chairman and its secretary over persistent allegations of paper leaks and irregularities in online exams.

If the two officials do not resign by the deadline, Dipke warned that his party will launch a statewide tour to mobilise student support and escalate the protests.

"The Cockroach Janta Party and I are with MPSC aspirants in this fight," Dipke said in a video message released after the meeting. "We will stand with the aspirants until the resignations are secured."

The intervention comes as student anger boils over across Maharashtra. For weeks, candidates preparing for the highly competitive state services exams have been staging protests in several cities. The candidates are calling for systemic reforms, pointing to what they describe as a lack of transparency in how the recruitment exams are run.

For many young people in Maharashtra, securing an MPSC post is a primary route to stable, middle-class employment. Candidates often spend years in coaching hubs like Pune and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, living in cramped rented rooms and studying for long hours. When exams are marred by leaks or digital glitches, it does more than delay a test; it throws lives into limbo and drains the limited financial resources of rural families supporting these students.

This vulnerability has made the MPSC a highly sensitive political issue in the state. Opponents of the current administration have frequently used exam delays and leaks to criticise the government’s management of public sector jobs. The CJP’s entry into the dispute threatens to turn the student protests into a more organised, statewide political movement.

During Sunday’s meeting, representatives of the protesting students laid out their specific grievances to Dipke, detailing how recent online examinations were compromised. The candidates argue that the current leadership of the commission has failed to secure the examination process, eroding trust in the entire recruitment system.

Under the current plan, Dipke and other party members intend to join the active protests immediately. If the 24 September deadline passes without the resignations of the chairman and secretary, the party plans to take its campaign on the road, travelling through Maharashtra's districts to build a broader coalition of frustrated candidates.

The MPSC has yet to publicly respond to the political party's ultimatum or the renewed demands for its leadership to step down.