NEW DELHI (The Thursday Times) — India’s opposition INDIA bloc staged a symbolic “public impeachment” of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in New Delhi on Saturday, accusing him of conspiring to steal elections through a nationwide purge of voter rolls, on the eve of what it says will be a million-strong rally in the capital.
Former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar chaired the proceedings, modelled on a session of Parliament, at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence at 10 Rajaji Marg after the opposition said it had been refused other venues. Kharge then moved a motion to “remove” the chief election commissioner on six charges: that he conspired to steal elections, deleted 13.2 crore (132 million) voters, rewrote the Form 6 voter registration form without Parliament, seized control of the electoral rolls through the ECINET platform, shut out the two other election commissioners, and acted at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.
Kharge demanded Kumar’s immediate removal and trial for treason, saying Article 326 of the Constitution, which guarantees universal adult franchise, was under serious threat. He said the bloc had “no personal enmity” with Kumar and was fighting for genuine voters, not “infiltrators”. RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav accused the election chief of orchestrating “vote theft” for Modi and Shah, while Trinamool Congress MP Saugata Roy said the opposition had filed an impeachment notice but had not been allowed to raise it in Parliament.
The exercise has no legal force. The opposition submitted a formal notice seeking Kumar’s removal in both houses of Parliament in March. The Bharatiya Janata Party dismissed Saturday’s event as a mock Parliament, and BJP MP Sambit Patra defended the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, saying only Indian citizens should vote and that Form 6 itself was unchanged apart from an added declaration.
Ramlila Maidan rally
Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi said the bloc would march on Sunday from the Minto Road–Connaught Place junction to Ramlila Maidan to press for the election chief’s resignation and the scrapping of the SIR, days after he urged students not to fear the police. Former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has arrived in Delhi for the rally, and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren are also due to attend.
Delhi Police have allowed the gathering between 10am and 5pm and announced traffic diversions across central Delhi. Gandhi has accused Shah of trying to stop people from other states reaching the capital, a claim the BJP called a lie. The Vishva Hindu Parishad questioned the timing of the rally in the middle of Diwali festivities.
The SIR has struck millions of names off voter rolls across several states. The opposition says the poor and minorities have been disproportionately removed, while the Election Commission says the revision is clearing out dead, duplicate and shifted voters.
