‘Chief architect of vote chori’, ‘one-man autocracy’: Opposition demands CEC’s removal after Express report

“Chief architect of vote chori”, “one-man autocracy” and “dictator” were among the phrases used by Opposition leaders to describe Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in their response to The Indian Express report, accusing Kumar of acting like an autocrat while neglecting the other two Election Commissioners over voter deletions, reinforcing the allegation of “vote chori” against the EC by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

The Indian Express report on Wednesday (September 23) revealed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had recorded objections at least 14 times over 10 months to decisions taken within the Election Commission, raising questions about the functioning of the three-member constitutional body under Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

The Opposition parties demanded Kumar’s immediate removal and called for Parliament to initiate proceedings against him, while several leaders urged the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognisance of the report, which is based on records and communications between the three officials on decisions concerning the registration of new voters, deletion and restoration of names during the SIR, and the management and security of electoral-roll data.

The report said that the two Commissioners had complained of being kept out of important decisions taken in the name of the full Commission, while Sandhu and Joshi reportedly termed some such actions as “unauthorised” and “illegal”, particularly those linked to the centralisation of electoral-roll databases and restrictions on access to the EC’s digital systems.

One of the principal disputes concerned Form 6, which new voters use to apply for inclusion in the electoral roll and which has a new column for a declaration on the inclusion of the applicant’s parents and grandparents in the previous electoral roll, to which Joshi had reportedly objected in May, maintaining that the statutory Form 6 could not be altered without amending the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.

Sandhu later recorded on August 13 that the change was “unauthorised and illegal” and should be removed immediately, yet the question continued to appear on the form, according to the report.

Reacting to the report, Congress general secretary K. C. Venugopal accused Kumar of being the “chief architect” of what the party calls “vote chori” and demanded his removal as well as a Supreme Court-monitored investigation. Congress media head Pawan Khera alleged that Kumar was being “planted and protected” to weaken the Election Commission from within.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav described the reported dissent as an extremely serious matter and said that the inability of members of an independent constitutional body to act freely would have grave implications for democracy. CPI(M) MP John Brittas, meanwhile, described the Commission under Kumar as a “one-man autocracy” and called on Parliament to begin the process of removing him.

Other Opposition leaders, including TMC MP Mahua Moitra and Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut, also criticised Kumar and questioned the functioning of the Commission, while Rahul Gandhi accused the BJP, RSS and election officials involved in what he called the “theft” of votes of having committed “an act of treason”.

The Election Commission, however, rejected the suggestion of a division over the SIR, with sources cited by The Hindu and other reports maintaining that all decisions of the Commission, including those concerning the SIR, had been unanimous and approved by the two Election Commissioners as well as the CEC.

The latest controversy comes after Opposition parties had previously sought Kumar’s removal, alleging partisan and discriminatory conduct. Earlier notices seeking his removal were rejected by the Rajya Sabha Chairman and Lok Sabha Speaker in April, while the latest demands have brought renewed attention to the constitutional functioning of the Election Commission and the extent of authority exercised by its three members.