Amid its face-off with the Election Commission over allegations of vote fraud, the INDIA Opposition bloc is considering bringing a motion to remove Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, sources have said.
According to the sources, Opposition parties discussed bringing the motion to remove the poll body chief during a meeting of their leaders at Parliament this morning.
The process to remove a Chief Election Commissioner is similar to that of a Supreme Court Judge. Such a motion requires to be passed by a two-thirds majority in both Houses of Parliament and the grounds of removal are “proved misbehaviour or incapacity”. Since the Opposition does not have the numbers to push such a motion through, this appears to be more of a pressure tactics.
The Opposition parties’ plans on this subject follow the poll body chief’s strong remarks targeting the INDIA bloc’s allegations of vote fraud.
Hitting back at senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s “vote chori” offensive, Mr Kumar yesterday said using such “improper words” amounts to insulting the Constitution.
At a press meet last afternoon, the Chief Election Commissioner said the poll body was being used as a launchpad to target India’s voters for political motives and that the poll body stands firmly with the voters. He said every party is the same for the Election Commission and that it does not discriminate between the ruling party and the Opposition.
Earlier this month, Mr Gandhi had alleged vote fraud in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment in Karnataka during the 2024 Lok Sabha election. The Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha has now launched the Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bihar. This Yatra will cover 1,300 km across 20 districts of the poll-bound state. The Congress and its ally RJD have challenged the Special Intensive Revision of voter lists in Bihar, alleging that the poll body is colluding with the BJP to tinker with the voter rolls and give an advantage to the ruling party.
Countering such allegations, the poll body chief yesterday said, “More than 1 crore officials, over 10 lakh booth-level agents and over 20 lakh polling agents work for a Lok Sabha election. Can anyone steal votes in front of so many people and with such a transparent process? Some allegations of double voting were made, but when we asked for proof, we got nothing. Such allegations scare neither the Election Commission nor any voter.”
Following Mr Gandhi’s allegations regarding Mahadevapura, the Karnataka poll body had asked him to take an oath and submit a declaration that he had irregularities in the voter list. Mr Gandhi has refused and said the data he cited was the poll body’s, not his.
Stressing that the Congress leader must submit an affidavit, Mr Kumar said. “Affidavit has to be given or (he) must apologise to the nation. There is no third option. If we don’t receive an affidavit within seven days, it means these allegations are baseless.”
Asked about the plan to push for the poll body chief’s removal, Congress MP Syed Naseer Hussain said, “The Chief Election Commissioner spoke like a BJP spokesperson. We will use every option available to us in a parliamentary democracy.”
The BJP has slammed the Opposition parties over these reports. Rajya Sabha MP Radha Mohan Das Agarwal said, “What can we expect from fools? I am surprised they have not brought impeachment motions against the Supreme Court and high courts.”
