NEW DELHI: Opposition MPs in Rajya Sabha on Friday submitted a fresh notice to the secretary general seeking to move a motion to remove Gyanesh Kumar as chief election commissioner (CEC) on the grounds of “proven misbehaviour”. Earlier this month, similar notices submitted by opposition MPs in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were rejected by the Speaker and the Chairman, respectively.
Nine new charges levelled
The opposition has now levelled nine new charges against Kumar. Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh said on X that “73 opposition MPs in RS have submitted to its secretary general a fresh notice of motion for presenting an ‘Address to the President’ praying for the removal of CEC Gyanesh Kumar”. The motion, according to Ramesh, has been sought “on the ground of proven misbehaviour” — one instance being the “Straight Talk” social media post by the Election Commission after a meeting with a TMC delegation on April 8. The meeting had ended acrimoniously, with TMC leaders alleging the CEC asked them to “get lost” and the EC accusing them of shouting.
Ramesh stated: “There are now nine specific charges against the CEC that have been documented in great detail and that simply cannot be denied or whitewashed away. His continuation is an assault on the Constitution. It is absolute disgrace that the man continues to be in office to do the bidding of PM and HM.”
Signatories and charges
The motion has been signed by MPs from Congress, TMC, DMK, SP, RJD, CPI, CPM, NCP(SP), Shiv Sena (UBT), JMM, IUML, NC and AAP. Among the fresh charges, the opposition accused Kumar of “continued partisan asymmetry in enforcement of model code of conduct”, alleging that the EC failed to act on complaints against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to the nation on April 18 regarding the defeated Constitution amendment bill related to women’s reservation amid assembly polls. The CEC “has issued no show-cause notice, no advisory, and no public response” to any of the complaints made regarding this, it said.
Other charges include “administrative lapses evidencing institutional proximity to the governing party” and “conduct unbecoming of a constitutional functionary”, citing the summary termination of the meeting with TMC. The list also includes mass disenfranchisement in West Bengal involving deletion of approximately 91 lakh voters and judicial exclusion of approximately 34 lakh voters from the franchise. Additional allegations include “wilful non-action upon specific and documented complaints of official partisanship” and “nationwide replication of defective SIR framework”.
