Congress calls for protests seeking CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s arrest, removal
The Congress on Thursday directed its state units to organise protest marches to their respective State Election Commission offices on September 25, demanding the immediate arrest and removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and an independent review of decisions and electoral roll changes made under his tenure.
The party also asked all District Congress Committees (DCCs) to hold similar protest marches at District Collectorates on September 28.
Congress general secretary in-charge organisation K C Venugopal said the protests were being organised over what the party described as a "massive vote chori" exercise allegedly being spearheaded by Kumar.
After a report published on Wednesday highlighted objections raised within the three-member Election Commission over decisions related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Venugopal alleged that Kumar's "treason" had been exposed.
The Indian Express reported on September 23 that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally objected at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders they said were taken without their knowledge. The objections covered issues including voter registration, deletion and restoration of names and access to the electoral roll database.
"The Congress will be taking to the streets on this burning issue, and all Pradesh Congress Committees (PCCs) have been instructed to organise massive protest marches to their respective State Election Commission Offices tomorrow, 25th September, firmly demanding his immediate arrest, his removal from office, and a comprehensive, independent review of all decisions and electoral roll changes made under him," Venugopal said.
He said the September 28 protests by DCCs would mark the second phase of the agitation.
"Gyanesh must go, and all his decisions must be reversed. Our protests will relentlessly go on until he is removed, sent to jail and all our demands are met," Venugopal said.
The Congress's announcement comes amid a wider political row over the functioning of the Election Commission and the SIR exercise. According to the report, Sandhu and Joshi had raised concerns about changes to Form 6 for new voters and what they described as the gradual centralisation of access to electoral-roll databases.
The report also said the two commissioners had questioned the process through which appeals were filed against voters in West Bengal and raised concerns over software-related issues affecting Electoral Registration Officers in Goa.
