Mamata rallies Opposition to seek impeachment of CEC
The entire Opposition will take a collective call on moving an impeachment motion against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Congress leader KC Venugopal said on Wednesday, a day after West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee called for such a move.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav also extended support to Banerjee in her fight against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal. Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, however, refused to comment on the matter.
Talking to mediapersons in the Parliament House complex, Venugopal said they are “positively” looking at the suggestion. Banerjee, who was in the national Capital as part of her campaign against the SIR exercise in West Bengal, on Tuesday called for the impeachment of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and sought to rally support from the other opposition parties on the issue. Banerjee also appeared in the Supreme Court on Wednesday and argued her petition against the SIR exercise, alleging unfair targeting of West Bengal by the poll panel and the bulldozing of its citizens.
Asked about Banerjee’s call to move an impeachment motion against CEC Kumar, Venugopal, the Congress general secretary in charge of communications, said, “The Trinamool Congress has already contacted the Congress... I think the entire Opposition will take a call on the matter, which is one of the most relevant issues raised by the Trinamool. We are positively looking at it.”
Akhilesh Yadav, whose Samajwadi Party is the second largest party in the Lok Sabha with 37 MPs, came out in support of the Trinamool supremo, and said, “Mamata Banerjee has donned a black coat against the black deeds of the BJP.” “People must come forward. Losing your vote is losing your right. Everything will be lost one by one... Your citizenship would be questioned. We are with honourable Mamata Banerjee,” he added.
Asked about Banerjee’s remarks, Rahul Gandhi, however, said, “I am not commenting on that.”
In the meantime, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi stressed that transparency should be maintained by the Election Commission. “The way the BJP is misusing the SIR and using the Election Commission to violate voters’ rights by deleting their names on a large scale is deeply concerning. Mamata Ji is fighting this battle because, in West Bengal, a large number of votes belonging to people who traditionally vote for her party have reportedly been removed,” she said.
