Opposition makes fresh bid in RS to oust CEC

Opposition parties on Friday moved a fresh notice in the Rajya Sabha seeking the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh and TMC leader Sagarika Ghose submitted the notice to the Rajya Sabha Secretary General.

“His continued hold on the position is an assault on the Constitution. It is utterly shameful that this individual remains in office, so that he can continue to act on the directions of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister,” Jairam Ramesh posted on social media.

The notice calls for an address to the President for Kumar’s removal, invoking provisions of the Constitution, the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, and the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968.

The Congress leader said there are now nine specific charges against the CEC, which have been recorded in “extreme detail”, including the poll panel’s failure to act on complaints against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “address to the nation on April 18, which cannot be “denied or suppressed”.

Referring to complaints by political parties and concerned citizens on the PM’s address, the notice claims, “As on the date of this notice, Gyanesh Kumar has issued no show-cause notice, no advisory, and no public response to any of the said complaints.” It said this is in “stark contrast” to the “alacrity of action in respect of analogous complaints filed by the Bharatiya Janata Party against Opposition leaders”.

The notice mentions the poll panel’s post on microblogging platform X on April 8, following a meeting with a delegation of TMC leaders, where it claimed it gave a “straight talk” to the party. The notice says it was the first occasion in the constitutional history of India when an official communication channel of a constitutional body “publicly named and denigrated” a recognised political party engaged in an ongoing electoral contest.

Mentioning the TMC’s charge that Kumar asked them to “get lost” when the party delegation had gone to meet the full bench of the Election Commission, the notice alleges that the CEC’s conduct is “unbecoming” of a constitutional functionary.

The charges also include a reported incident involving the use of the BJP state unit’s seal on an official document in Kerala.

It further raises serious concerns over the handling of electoral roll revisions, especially in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, alleging large-scale deletion of voters and the use of questionable criteria, calling it “mass disenfranchisement”.

Additionally, the MPs have raised concerns over the transfer and posting of bureaucrats in poll-bound states, alleging that these actions exceeded the constitutional mandate of the Election Commission.

Members of Opposition parties such as the Congress, TMC, SP, DMK, Left parties, Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (SP), RJD, IUML and “like -minded” parties have signed the notice, sources said.

The move comes days after similar notices submitted by Opposition MPs in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were rejected by the respective presiding officers. It was the first time that a notice seeking the removal of a CEC was submitted in Parliament.

In its earlier notices, the Opposition had accused CEC Kumar of “failure to maintain independence and constitutional fidelity” and of acting under the “thumb of the executive”.

However, in almost similar responses, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan had rejected the notices, holding that even if the allegations were assumed to be true, they did not meet the high constitutional threshold of “misbehaviour” required for his removal.

The Opposition urged the Rajya Sabha chairman to admit the notice and constitute a three-member inquiry committee to investigate the charges against Kumar. It further sought Kumar’s recusal from election-related duties pending the outcome of the inquiry.

If admitted and subsequently approved by both Houses of Parliament with the required special majority, the motion could lead to Kumar’s removal from the post of CEC.