Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 25: Amidst the opposition clamour seeking the resignation from the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar following the media expose about his alleged “unauthorised and illegal” actions, the Congress on Friday hits the streets launching a nation-wide protest campaign seeking the CEC’s removal.
From Delhi to Patna to Jammu to Kolkata to Punjab to Assam and Arunachal, Congress workers took to the streets demanding Kumar’s resignation. In Delhi, a major Congress protest saw dramatic scenes with the party leaders breaking barricades and trying to march towards the Election Commission office to demand CEC’s resignation. Several Congress workers were detained as the police tried to stop the march.
“Gyanesh Kumar must resign immediately. We are not going to let democracy be destroyed in India and sit silent, and the people responsible for this are going to be punished,” Delhi Congress president Devender Yadav said.
Earlier, wearing masks bearing Gyanesh Kumar’s face and with their hands bound in chains, Indian Youth Congress workers on Friday protested in Delhi against the Election Commission, demanding Kumar’s resignation over alleged differences among the poll panel’s top officers on key electoral decisions. The protesters raised slogans and displayed posters and banners demanding accountability from Kumar as they marched from the IYC office on Raisina Road towards the Election Commission headquarters.
In Assam, state Congress chief Gaurav Gogoi and several workers were detained during the party’s protest against the CEC. In Bihar’s capital Patna, police used water cannons on Congress workers who staged a march to the poll panel’s office. Similar protest marches were organised by the Opposition party in several state capitals, including Kolkata, Chandigarh, Jammu other parts of the country.
The Congress on Thursday had directed its state units to organise protest marches to their respective state election commission offices on September 25, demanding the CEC’s immediate arrest, removal from office, and an independent review of all decisions and electoral roll changes made under him.
This came after a media report said Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had objected on record at least 14 times over the last 10 months to decisions and orders they said were issued without their knowledge, even as the national rollout of the SIR was under the supervision of the full commission. Their objections covered the manner in which the statutory voter registration Form 6 was amended, the handling of additions and deletions from voter lists, and centralised control over the electoral roll database, according to the report.
Under fire over the red flags raised by two of its commissioners over the SIR process, the EC has asserted that differing views and observations were a normal part of deliberations in any institution and all its orders carry full legal sanction and follow established statutory procedures. In a statement, the poll panel also said not only the three commissioners, but every officer of the EC is fully authorised to give suggestions to the commission to improve the electoral system.
The Congress and the Opposition, however, were not amused and have upped the ante demanding removal of CEC Gyanesh Kumar after the damning report. Addressing a press conference in New Delhi on Thursday, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi termed Kumar a “traitor”, demanded his resignation and warned that the Congress would not remain silent and watch democracy in India “being destroyed.”
The Congress took out a march towards the Election Commission office in Kolkata on Friday demanding the arrest of Gyanesh Kumar, but police stopped the rally midway. Led by West Bengal Congress chief Subhankar Sarkar, the protesters marched from the Calcutta University’s College Street campus towards the state Chief Electoral Officer’s office on Strand Road and were stopped at the B B Ganguly Street crossing. The protesters burnt an effigy of Kumar and raised slogans demanding his arrest, with Sarkar saying the agitation would continue until their demands were met.
Several Congress workers and leaders were detained during a protest in Jammu demanding Kumar’s resignation. Congress MP and AICC general secretary Dr Syed Naseer Hussain led the protest, which was attended by several senior party leaders, including former ministers and legislators.
The protesters raised slogans against Kumar and burnt his effigy while attempting to march towards the Election Commission office. Police and paramilitary personnel deployed around the office detained several protesters, including senior leaders, following brief scuffles.
In Bhubaneswar, the Odisha Congress workers on Friday attempted to gherao the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) demanding Kumar’s resignation. Led by State president Bhakta Charan Das, the marchers were stopped before reaching the CEO’s office; police detained several Congress workers, and party leaders alleged clashes with the police.
“He committed an unapologetic crime by supporting ‘vote chori’… we demand his resignation and arrest,” Mr Das told reporters. Congress Legislature Party leader Rama Chandra Kadam said the media report had “proved” Rahul Gandhi’s “vote chori” allegation, and that protests would continue until Mr Kumar resigns.
Meghalaya Congress workers burnt an effigy of the CEC in Shillong. A procession led by State Congress president Vincent H. Pala began at Congress Bhavan and ended near the Additional Secretariat, where workers burnt the effigy.
Activist and lawyer Prashant Bhushan on Friday alleged that police did not allow a peaceful protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls at Jantar Mantar in Delhi.
In a post on X, Bhushan said the police action showed the government’s “desperation” and claimed that thousands of protests would erupt across the country. He also called for Kumar to “go & be prosecuted” over what he described as “enormous crimes.”
Several protesters, including CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya and activist Yogendra Yadav, were detained by Delhi Police during a demonstration at Jantar Mantar on Friday demanding the CEC’ arrest and resignation, organisers said.
The protest was organised by the All India Students’ Association (AISA) Delhi unit and civil society members, with protesters raising slogans of “Arrest Gyanesh Kumar” and alleging irregularities in the functioning of the Election Commission. AISA president Neha on Friday alleged that students protesting at Jantar Mantar in Delhi were detained while demonstrating against the CEC and SIR Exercise.
In a post on X, Neha alleged that the students were “brutally detained” and accused Kumar of having “sold out the electoral system and the nation.” A senior police officer said the demonstration had not been permitted. “No application was submitted and no permission was obtained. They are being removed,” the officer said.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray has called for the scrapping of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, alleging irregularities in the process and citing reported differences among Election Commissioners.
In a post on X, Thackeray said all opposition parties should unite to demand an impartial inquiry into the alleged irregularities and restart the process. He also called for parties to launch a “massive agitation” to ensure future elections are conducted using ballot papers instead of electronic voting machines (EVMs).