On Friday, the Congress furred up against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar by posting his poster demanding his removal in various parts of the city of Delhi. The Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee, the OBC department of the party, hoisted the posters on ITO intersection, which carried the message, “Gyanesh Hatao, Chunav Aayog Bachao” (Remove Gyanesh, Save Election Commission).
The latest comes on the eve of a political controversy over the functioning of the Election Commission and Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, and one day after Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi demanded that of Kumar. Gandhi has said that it was an irregularity in the electoral process and the conduct of the CEC was “suspected”.
The controversy comes in the wake of a disclosure about “objction” raised by Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi against a few decisions connected with the SIR exercise. The two commissioners object rioters raised a number of times over the last 10 months, reports the Congress.
The Election Commission has, however, rejected the idea that they were influenced by internal divisions in their decision making. The poll body said that “all the decisions made over the past year are unanimous” while individual views, observations and suggestions are “a common feature of a multi-member constitutional body’s deliberations”.
Meanwhile the BJP has jumped in and challenged Rahul Gandhi’s allegations. BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari termed Gandhi’s press meet as a “damp squib” and blamed Congress for being frustrated with its political stau.
The Congress has also started more demonstrations on this subject and the Election Commission and SIR is still the main issue in the rising political conflict.