The Jharkhand Congress is to hold rallies throughout the state and occupy the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) in Ranchi demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Monday. The protest was announced by the President of the State Congress, Keshav Mahto Kamlesh, at the press conference on Sunday.
Kamlesh claimed that the EC had given an “unfair” advantage to the BJP in the last few elections in Bihar and West Bengal, among others. These are just the political assertions of Congress and have been rejected by BJP and questioned by the responses from the Election Commission.
With renewed discussions over how the Election Commission handled the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the planned protest has come at a time when this topic is once again in focus. According to an investigation by the Indian Express, Election Commissioners Sukbinder Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections 14 times in total during the last 10 months, on issues including voter registration, deletion, Form 6 and working with electoral-roll data.
The complaints were against changes to Form 6, removal and inclusion of names on electoral rolls and centralisation of voter database functions, the report revealed. The Election Commission then had the difference of opinion and observation as part of their internal procedural process, disclosing that they did not settle on a consensus before beginning to count the vote.
The fact that BHU members of the Jharkhand Congress will hold a demonstration in front of the CEO’s office, Ranchi, and in front of the district headquarters during the campaign, has worried the Congress. The party has tied up its protest with electoral processes and issues of voters’ rights.
The protests have been held as part of the growing opposition criticism of the Commissioners headmaster, Gyanesh Kumar. Congress and other adversaries want him to be removed after it was reported there were some objections from within the Election Commission’s ranks, while the BJP has termed allegations against the Election Commission groundless.
The SIR process has also come under the scanner in Jharkhand, with an extension to September 30 for the claims and objections relating to the draft electoral roll.