INDIA bloc to meet on September 30 over CEC Gyanesh Kumar removal motion
The opposition INDIA bloc will meet at the Constitution Club of India in New Delhi on September 30 to finalise its strategy on a removal motion against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The meeting may also see opposition parties collect signatures on the proposed motion.
The meeting comes after a report in The Indian Express on September 23 revealed internal disagreements within the Election Commission over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls and related issues. According to the report, Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi recorded their objections 14 times over 10 months.
Opposition parties led by the Congress are expected to discuss intensifying their demand for Kumar's resignation, an independent inquiry into the Election Commission's decisions and a roadmap for nationwide protests.
The meeting was proposed after Trinamool Congress founder Mamata Banerjee spoke with Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and CPI(M) general secretary MA Baby. The leaders subsequently agreed on September 30 for the meeting, sources said.
Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Mamata Banerjee, Abhishek Banerjee, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray are among those expected to attend.
The meeting is likely to focus on the removal motion, demands for Kumar's resignation and an impartial probe, and plans for nationwide protests, particularly in poll-bound Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
The Congress Working Committee will meet on September 29 to discuss the party's strategy.
The CPI(M), CPI and CPI(ML)-Liberation have also demanded Kumar's removal and an immediate halt to the SIR. CPI(ML)-Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya has called for the September 30 meeting to include all Opposition parties, civil society members and concerned citizens.
The BJP has rejected the opposition's allegations that the SIR was intended to favour the ruling party, calling them attempts to divert attention from electoral defeats.
The Election Commission has said differing views are normal during institutional deliberations and that its orders have legal sanction and follow statutory procedures. It has also said all final decisions on the SIR were taken unanimously by all three commissioners.