It is a fair thought experiment: what would the Cockroach Janta Party actually do if, by some uncharitable accident of Indian democracy, it held a single Lok Sabha seat tomorrow? The CJP, by its own admission, is not yet registered with the Election Commission, has not contested an election, and is closer to a public-pressure movement than a parliamentary outfit. But the question is worth answering — because the answer reveals how seriously the manifesto's five demands hold together as a single legislative package.
This is the Cockroach Bill 2026: a satirical-but-substantive draft of the omnibus legislation a hypothetical CJP MP would table on day one. Read it as a thought experiment, not a policy document. The voice is intentionally formal — the work is meant to be taken seriously even when it is a joke.
The Cockroach (Survival and Adaptation) Act, 2026
A Bill to provide for the structural correction of electoral, judicial and representational deficits in the Republic of India, and for matters connected therewith.
Chapter I — Preliminary
Clause 1. Short title — This Act may be called the Cockroach (Survival and Adaptation) Act, 2026.
Clause 2. Extent — It extends to the whole of India.
Clause 3. Commencement — It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification, appoint; provided that such date shall be no later than 90 days from the date of receipt of the President's assent.
(That 90-day clause is the operative bit. Every Indian reform act has the open-ended "such date as the Government may notify" line, which is how the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam is technically passed and practically dormant. The Cockroach Bill closes that escape hatch.)
Chapter II — Judicial Independence and Cooling-Off
Clause 4. No person who has held office as Chief Justice of India shall, for the remainder of their lifetime, be appointed to —
- The Rajya Sabha as a nominee of the President under Article 80(1)(a);
- The office of Governor of any State under Article 155;
- The chair or membership of the National Human Rights Commission, the National Green Tribunal, or any one-member commission of inquiry under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952.
Clause 5. No person who has retired as a judge of the Supreme Court shall accept any appointment under sub-clauses (i) to (iii) of Clause 4 for a period of two years from the date of retirement.
(This is the legal version of CJP demand #1, extended to the full post-retirement ecosystem.)
Chapter III — Electoral Integrity and Time-Bound Redressal
Clause 6. The Chief Election Commissioner shall publish, within 60 days of every general or assembly election, a constituency-wise audit of every deletion of a voter's name from the rolls during the 12 months preceding the poll.
Clause 7. Every confirmed instance of unlawful deletion of a name from the electoral roll shall be investigated by the Election Commission of India within 30 days of the complaint being filed, and the findings shall be published.
Clause 8. A specialised Electoral Roll Tribunal shall be constituted at the level of each State to hear and decide deletion-related complaints within a further 60 days of receipt.
(Operationalises CJP demand #4: time-bound, published, escalatable.)
Chapter IV — Accountability of the Election Commission
Clause 9. Where a constituency-wise audit conducted under Clause 6 establishes that more than 0.5% of the eligible adult population of any constituency was unlawfully deleted from the rolls in the 12 months preceding a poll, the Chief Election Commissioner shall be liable to action in accordance with the procedure set out in Schedule I.
Schedule I: Procedure — (i) Show-cause notice within 7 days; (ii) referral to a three-member Electoral Integrity Bench of the Supreme Court; (iii) finding of liability published within 90 days; (iv) if liability established, removal under Article 324(5) shall be initiated by the Government of India within 30 days.
(This is the more legally feasible cousin of CJP's headline UAPA-against-CEC demand. The UAPA framing is intentionally provocative; the bill version is the proceduralised cousin.)
Chapter V — Women's Reservation
Clause 10. Notwithstanding anything contained in the Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, 2023, the reservation of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and in the Legislative Assemblies of every State shall be 55%.
Clause 11. The reservation under Clause 10 shall come into effect from the next general or assembly election following the commencement of this Act, irrespective of any delimitation exercise.
(This delinks the 55% demand from the delimitation freeze that has held the 2023 Adhiniyam dormant.)
Chapter VI — Political Literacy
Clause 12. The Central Government, in consultation with State Governments, shall introduce, within 12 months of the commencement of this Act, a mandatory module on Constitution, Electoral Process and Civic Participation in the curriculum of every secondary school, including a hands-on component on filing a Form 6 enrolment, filing an RTI application, and reading the electoral roll.
Clause 13. Every citizen on attaining the age of seventeen years and six months shall receive a pre-filled enrolment form from the Election Commission, with a clear opt-out mechanism.
(See political literacy demand.)
Chapter VII — Final
Clause 14. The provisions of this Act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in force.
Clause 15. Repeal and savings — Nothing in this Act shall be construed to derogate from the protections of fundamental rights under Part III of the Constitution.
What this thought experiment really shows
Three things become clear once you draft the bill.
- The five demands of the CJP manifesto are not five unrelated ideas — they are a single, internally consistent legislative package. The bill writes itself.
- The most provocative elements (UAPA-against-CEC) are not the elements that would survive parliamentary drafting; the substance is in the boring procedural clauses about time limits and audits.
- The "satirical" label is doing real work — by being publicly satirical, the CJP gets to demand things a "serious" party would water down before tabling.
The Cockroach Bill will not be passed in 2026. It will not be tabled. There is no Cockroach MP. But the next time someone says CJP is "just memes", the right answer is: here is the bill. Read it.
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