Cockroach Janta Party, the viral pseudo-political movement behind the Gen Z protests that rattled Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in July, has demanded the resignation of India’s chief election officer after claiming he had undermined the country’s democracy.

On Friday, Abhijeet Dipke, the founder of the CJP, said the party will begin a nationwide protest from Oct. 2 if the chief election officer does not resign by Saturday.

In a press conference on Thursday, Dipke said the country’s Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, “is the biggest threat to India’s democracy,” raising questions over his role in a recent electoral roll revision exercise that has led to the deletion of millions of voters.

The exercise has given the government the power to select who can vote, rather than empowering voters to choose the government, Dipke said at a press conference.

The three members of the Election Commission are handpicked by the government and appointed by a selection panel of the prime minister, the home minister and the leader of opposition. The Indian National Congress, the main opposition political party, had opposed the selection of Kumar as the head of the election panel last year, as per local media reports.

Voter roll revisions

Last year, the Election Commission of India began conducting “special intensive revisions”, or SIR, to update voter lists across the country. The authority said the exercise aimed to ensure “electoral rolls are accurate, up-to-date, and free of ineligible or duplicate entries, while ensuring that no eligible elector is left out.”

However, local media reports earlier this month showed millions of voters had been deleted from the draft electoral rolls. India’s leader of the opposition, Rahul Gandhi, who has been complaining of “vote theft” for years, joined the CJP in demanding the resignation of Kumar on Thursday.

The concerns raised by Modi’s political rivals over the election process have intensified after an investigation by the Indian Express on Wednesday revealed that the two other members of the Election Commission had made 14 formal complaints over discrepancies in the SIR process over the last 10 months.

The two members, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, complained about being kept in the dark about adding new voters and deleting names, the report said. They also flagged concerns over the integrity of voter software and warned against voter database access being centralized in Delhi, bypassing state officials, as per the Indian Express.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Election Commission underplayed the objections. “Differing views and observations are a normal part of deliberation in any institution,” it said, adding that they are part of “the decision-making process.”

It has yet to comment on the demand for the resignation of the chief election commissioner and the reported deletion of 130 million voters in the draft electoral rolls.

The process for updating electoral rolls started last year in Bihar, where Modi and his allies won a landslide victory, winning more than 200 seats out of 243 in the state assembly.

Modi’s popularity was seen to be waning when, in June 2024, his party failed to secure an outright majority in the national polls and had to form a coalition government for his third term as prime minister.

However, his success in key state elections has since dispelled worries of Modi losing political momentum. Following elections earlier this year, his Bharatiya Janata Party came to power for the first time in West Bengal.

Chinese authorities reportedly possess components from F-35 stealth fighter jets after parts were mysteriously diverted to Hong Kong. The shipping company UPS was transporting a cockpit canopy and weapons bay door from Australia to the United States in late May when the shipment was rerouted, according to sources cited by Bloomberg on Thursday.

Both components were coated with radar-absorbing material designed to enhance their stealth capabilities, the sources indicated, though it remains unclear why the shipment was redirected to Hong Kong. On Tuesday, Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles told reporters that Australia was aware of the shipment and was collaborating with the U.S. and Lockheed Martin to determine how Canberra could assist in the investigation.

Marles also stated that, based on his understanding, no sensitive parts were included in the missing shipment, CNN reported. Lockheed Martin, UPS, and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Verum.

The F-35 is a fifth-generation stealth fighter aircraft manufactured by Lockheed Martin. The United States restricts the sale of these aircraft exclusively to its closest allies and partners.

Turkey was excluded from the F-35 program in 2019 after the country acquired the Russian S-400 anti-aircraft system, raising concerns that the Russian equipment could be used as an intelligence-gathering platform to assess the aircraft’s capabilities.

According to U.S. prosecutors in 2024, China has targeted F-35-related U.S. military data in previous espionage cases.

A $24 billion sale of F-35s to Saudi Arabia was approved last week, but some members of Congress have already voiced concerns about the technology potentially falling into Chinese hands.

Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) stated that U.S. intelligence officials have warned that the sale “could place the crown jewels of American military technology within reach of the Chinese Communist Party.”

The fighter jet is used by Australia, Belgium, and the United States itself, with additional countries such as Japan, Canada, and Singapore having also ordered the aircraft.

The F-35 has also been deployed by the United States during the Iran conflict, with one aircraft sustaining damage from enemy fire, according to the Department of Defense.

President Donald Trump has rejected Iran’s conditional proposal for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, telling aides he expects to resume bombing the country after November’s midterm elections, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday, quoting unnamed U.S. officials.

In a gaggle with reporters later on Saturday, Trump confirmed he had rejected Iran’s latest offer: “They made a proposal but I rejected it.”

Meanwhile, Yemen’s Saudi-led coalition forces said they intercepted projectiles fired by Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Friday proposed reopening the strategically vital strait and resuming nuclear talks with the U.S. within seven days if the Trump administration accepts its conditions.

“If certain conditions are met, the Strait of Hormuz will be open at the end of seven days, and talks will be restarted,” Araghchi told reporters on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Tehran’s conditions include a halt to what it calls U.S. “acts of aggression,” an end to the naval blockade and economic warfare, and the release of Iranian assets, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said this week.

Trump said earlier this month that he expects the war, which began on Feb. 28 with U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran, to end shortly after the midterms and for oil prices to fall afterward.

But privately, Trump is skeptical Iran would meet his demands and has told his staff that he sees a renewed bombing campaign as likely, the WSJ quoted officials as saying.

CNBC could not immediately confirm the report.

The Journal quoted a U.S. official as saying Washington and Tehran were still negotiating through mediators, including over U.S. demands intended to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

‘Intercepted and destroyed’

Though direct fighting between U.S. and Iranian forces has been greatly reduced in recent weeks, Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have stepped up their attacks on their neighbor and U.S. ally Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi-backed Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen “intercepted and destroyed” two drones launched by Houthi militia towards the Saudi capital Riyadh, and two ballistic missiles aimed at the Khamis Mushait region near the city of Abha in the country’s southwest, Colonel Turki Al-Maliki, the coalition’s official spokesman, said in a series of posts on X.

The Houthis said last Saturday that they had attacked “sensitive” sites in Riyadh shortly after flames and smoke were seen near the city’s main airport. Saudi Arabia said earlier this month that its air defenses destroyed a Houthi drone headed for the holy city of Mecca, a claim the group denied.

The war has severely restricted energy shipments out of the Middle East, sending oil prices soaring and raising concerns about accelerating inflation globally.

But crude prices posted a sharp drop for the week as Tehran and Washington held discussions on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.

West Texas Intermediate dropped 2.3% to close at $92.41 per barrel. Brent, the international benchmark, declined 2.1% to settle at $104.32. U.S. crude finished the week 7.9% lower while Brent was flat.

WTI is up nearly 61% year to date, while Brent crude is more than 71% higher over the same period.