Opposition party president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday labelled Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar a puppet of the ruling BJP and called for his immediate removal from office. Addressing the CWC meeting amid the ongoing row over the functioning of the poll panel, Kharge said Gyanesh Kumar had no right to remain in office.
Referring to the latest report issued by a renowned media house last week, Kharge said, “Two Election Commissioners themselves have described the CEC’s actions as arbitrary and improper.”
“It is now common knowledge across the country that his persistent efforts have been aimed at benefiting the ruling party. Under these circumstances, he has no right to remain in office and should be removed immediately,” he added.
“The Chief Election Commissioner has become a puppet of the Modi government. Even his own colleagues don’t trust the Chief Election Commissioner. The youth will ask questions and overthrow him,” Kharge said.
He further made five major demands at the CWC, including that all data on changes to the electoral rolls be made public, all voters whose names have been deleted be given an opportunity to appeal, and all political parties be provided electoral rolls in a simple format and in time.
He additionally demanded an independent, time-bound probe into the conduct of the exercise, alleging that serious anomalies had been found and calling for the poll process to be made transparent.
He also alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had pressured the poll panel.
His remarks came amid the political row over the Election Commission and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, with opposition parties raising questions over the functioning of the poll panel.
Rejecting suggestions that these objections amounted to institutional dissent over final decisions, the poll body said operational queries, inputs and suggestions raised during the draft stage were part of the standard administrative decision-making process.