At least 193 Opposition MPs, including 130 from Lok Sabha and 63 from Rajya Sabha, have signed a notice for a motion seeking the removal of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.
According to sources, a 10-page notice will be submitted to the Lok Sabha Speaker, requesting the removal of Gyanesh Kumar from his position as CEC. Similarly, a 10-page notice, requesting the removal of the CEC, will also be submitted to the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, C P
Radhakrishnan.
According to the rules, the Opposition needs at least 100 MPs to give a notice seeking CEC’s removal in the Lok Sabha and at least 50 in the Rajya Sabha. The impeachment against the CEC will follow the same procedure as that required for the impeachment of a judge.
Members from all the INDIA bloc parties have reportedly signed the notice. MPs of the Aam Aadmi Party, which has left the Congress-led INDIA alliance, have also signed the notice, the report claimed.
In the notice, the first against a sitting Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), the Opposition members have levelled seven charges against Gyanesh Kumar. They have accused him of “partisan and discriminatory conduct in office,” “deliberate obstruction of investigation of electoral fraud,” and “mass disenfranchisement”.
CEC Kumar and the Opposition parties have been at loggerheads on several occasions, with the issue of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, West Bengal, and other poll-bound states being the bone of contention.
The Opposition alleged that the SIR exercise is aimed at helping the BJP win elections. Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, who held several press conferences a few months ago to highlight the alleged “vote chori”, had accused CEC Kumar of protecting the BJP.
Accusing the Election Commission of India (ECI) of “colluding with those in power”, Rahul also warned of “retrospective” action against such poll officers.
Referring to a 2023 law that effectively provides CEC immunity for actions taken while in power, he had said that Congress would change the law retrospectively, and we would come “looking for you.”