NEW DELHI: Congress on Friday upped the ante against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and put up posters demanding his removal in Delhi amid the ongoing row over the functioning of the poll panel and Special Intensive Revision of electoral list.Put up by the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee’s OBC department, the poster read, “Remove Gyanesh Kumar, save Election Commission.”This came a day after Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi lashed out at Gyanesh Kumar after reports of differences within the poll body over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls sparked a political stir.Rahul accused the CEC of “vote chori, kanun chori, sanstha chori (vote theft, law theft, institutional theft)”, calling it an “act against the nation”.“The Election Commission is the institutional protector of the vote… I have shown it with proof, and there is already more than enough information to make this a 100% certainty that Indian elections, Lok Sabha elections, 2024 election, Vidhan Sabha elections are all being rigged,” he said, addressing a press conference.“I come from a political family, and I have spent more than 50 years in a political family… In India, there is a fundamental force called anti-incumbency that very quickly starts to resist any government. It does not spare anybody. Indira Gandhi won the Bangladesh war, was at the height of her popularity, and then suddenly, within a year or two, massive anti-incumbency, massive pressure,” he added.Meanwhile, police personnel have been deployed outside the Election Commission office in Delhi ahead of a protest demonstration by Delhi Congress over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and demands for the resignation of Gyanesh Kumar.The Indian Youth Congress is also scheduled to hold a protest march from 5, Raisina Road to Jantar Mantar on Friday, demanding the resignation of Kumar.The Indian Youth Congress (IYC) on Thursday also launched a nationwide online citizens’ petition titled “Gyanesh, It’s Done Bro”, seeking action against the CEC and calling upon citizens, particularly young people, to participate in a campaign for electoral transparency and accountability.
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An Indian Express report has highlighted differences among members of the EC over the SIR of electoral rolls. The report said Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi raised formal objections on at least 14 occasions over a 10-month period against decisions and orders related to electoral-roll processes.The Election Commission, however, described the queries and observations raised by its members as part of its routine internal process. It said written notes, technical inputs and internal scrutiny were standard mechanisms to check legal compliance and protect voters’ rights.The ECI further said all decisions taken by the Commission, including those related to SIR, had full legal backing and stressed that its final decisions were unanimous.
