New Delhi: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday demanded the immediate removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging serious irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should resign on moral grounds for “pressuring” the poll panel’s head.
Speaking at a crucial Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, Kharge announced that the party would intensify its campaign against Kumar and the government, raising the issue both in Parliament and on the streets over alleged flaws in voter lists and the election process.
Five-Point Charter For Fair Rolls
Kharge outlined five key demands to ensure transparency and fairness in the SIR exercise. These are: publish all data on changes made to electoral rolls under SIR; inform every voter whose name has been deleted and allow a full right of appeal; supply all parties with simplified electoral rolls within the stipulated timeframe; order an independent, time-bound inquiry wherever serious anomalies surface; and ensure full transparency in the poll process so there is no impression that information is being held back.
He argued that these safeguards were essential to protect the integrity of democracy and the Constitution, as reported by The New Indian Express.
‘CEC Helping Ruling Party’
Kharge claimed the two Election Commissioners had themselves described the CEC’s actions as “arbitrary and unreasonable”, and said Kumar no longer had the right to continue in office.
“The entire nation now knows that he has been trying to help the ruling party. In such a situation, he does not have the right to be in his position and should be removed immediately,” Kharge said in his inaugural address to the CWC.
“Together with this, the prime minister should also resign on moral grounds for ‘pressuring’ the CEC,” he added.
Kharge’s comments come as reports surface of a deepening rift inside the Election Commission over the SIR exercise, centring on contentious issues such as revisions to Form 6, sweeping additions and deletions in voter lists, and who controls the electoral roll database.
According to The Indian Express, Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi have formally objected on record at least 14 times in the past 10 months, arguing that key SIR decisions were pushed through without their knowledge or consent.
The poll body has pushed back against suggestions of a split, insisting that internal disagreements are routine, its orders are legally valid, and all SIR-related decisions were arrived at unanimously.