250 MPs back “public impeachment” of CEC Gyanesh Kumar

Opposition INDIA bloc leaders passed a symbolic resolution Saturday, October 31, to “impeach” Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The resolution accuses Kumar of colluding with the ruling BJP to compromise the management of national elections, and it demands that he be “tried for treason.”

The resolution was passed by voice vote at a “public impeachment” held on the lawns of Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence. About 250 opposition MPs took part.

The venue was designed to resemble the Parliament chamber, with former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar in the chair. Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition Kharge tabled the resolution, and Rahul Gandhi concluded the debate. Meira Kumar then put the resolution to a vote. The three-hour session ended with the slogan “vote chor gaddi chhod.”

Gandhi called the “public impeachment” and a rally planned for Sunday at Ramlila Maidan a “dangerous political weapon” aimed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Kumar.

The resolution lists six “charges.” It describes them as part of a “criminal conspiracy” by the BJP, Modi and Shah, and as a premeditated attack on the electoral process. They include questionable handling of electoral rolls, a “manipulated” Special Intensive Revision (SIR) said to have deleted 14 crore voters, illegal changes to Form 6 to block new voters, and deletion of voters through software. Kumar is also accused of ignoring the two other Election Commissioners in decision making.

Kharge said Modi had hatched conspiracies to retain power, including engineering defections, splitting parties, electoral bonds and misuse of agencies. He called the 2023 law giving the CEC “immunity” another such instrument.

Explaining the need for a “public impeachment,” Kharge said the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha had rejected the opposition’s notices seeking Kumar’s removal.

Gandhi said the SIR had deleted 15% of 2024 voters, which he argued made the Lok Sabha elections illegal. He said Kumar would not survive as CEC once the opposition made its evidence public, and that the BJP’s intent would be clear if it kept him in the post.

Other leaders also spoke:

• Harendra Malik of the Samajwadi Party said the SIR was meant to target his party’s “PDA voters” ahead of the Uttar Pradesh elections.

• Sagarika Ghose of the Trinamool Congress said the 2026 West Bengal elections were stolen after 29 lakh voters “vanished” under what she called “Vanish Kumar’s SIR.”

• John Brittas of the CPI(M) warned that India should not become the Germany of the 1930s. The original says Trinamool’s Mahua Moitra has drawn the same parallel.

Others who spoke were Mehbooba Mufti (PDP), Arvind Sawant (Shiv Sena), Abhay Sinha (RJD), NK Premachandran (RSP), Sandosh Kumar (CPI), Rajeev Rai (SP), Durai Vaiko (MDMK), Kapil Sibal, Jose Mani (KCM), Devarajan (Forward Bloc), ET Muhammed Basheer (IUML), Sudama Prasad (CPI-ML), Nasir Aslam (National Conference), Thol Thirumavalavan (VCK) and Baidyanath Ram (JMM).

Civil society figures, including Yogendra Yadav, Nikhil Dey, advocate Sharukh Alam, Anjali Bhardwaj and Noor Shridhar, presented arguments and data against the Election Commission. Neha Bora of the All India Students’ Association (AISA) and NSUI volunteer Ritu Barala also spoke.