New Delhi: Opposition parties under the INDIA alliance will met in the national capital on September 30 to chart a common line on the demand for the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the ongoing controversy over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The meeting has been called as the Opposition sharpens its attack on Kumar after The Indian Express reported differences among the three Election Commissioners over the SIR exercise. The invitation has gone out from the office of Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal.
Who Will Attend
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, CPI(M) leader M.A. Baby, former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, and senior leaders of other INDIA bloc constituents are expected to be present. TMC sources said Banerjee and party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee would also attend, after earlier friction between Congress and the Trinamool was smoothed over with the help of Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, as reported by The Print.
The agenda is expected to centre on pressing for Kumar’s removal or resignation, deciding on a fresh impeachment/removal notice in both Houses after legal vetting — the Opposition’s third such attempt — and planning coordinated nationwide protests on the SIR issue.
EC Differences Report Fuels Political Push
The political push follows an Indian Express report that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi repeatedly raised objections over decisions linked to electoral rolls and the SIR exercise. The report said they lodged objections at least 14 times in 10 months on issues such as adding, deleting and restoring voters’ names, appeals on roll decisions, and access to the EC’s electoral-roll database.
The report also said they had objected to some decisions and orders taken without their knowledge or approval, and to changes in work allocation that they felt centralised control over the voter database and related software functions.
All SIR Orders Unanimous, Says EC
The poll panel has maintained that all major decisions concerning the SIR were taken unanimously by the full Commission and have full legal sanction, following statutory procedures. It has said differences of views and observations are a normal part of the internal discussion process and do not amount to disagreement over final decisions.
Meanwhile, the Congress has intensified its campaign against CEC Kumar, with Rahul Gandhi alleging that the Election Commission was responsible for what he called “vote chori, law chori and then institution chori”. The party held protests across several states on Friday demanding Kumar’s removal.