Rajya Sabha Secretariat on Monday rejected the impeachment motion notice against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar. The Opposition had submitted the impeachment motion notice against CEC Kumar on March 12, accusing him of biased and discriminatory conduct, misconduct, electoral fraud, and denial of voting rights.
Similarly, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla also refused to admit the notice of motion seeking the removal of the Chief Election Commissioner.
“After due consideration of the notice of Motion and a careful and objective assessment of all relevant aspects and issues involved therein, the Hon’ble Speaker, Lok Sabha, in exercise of the powers vested in him under section 3 of the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968, has refused to admit the said notice of Motion,” a statement issued by Utpal Kumar Singh, Lok Sabha Secretary General, read.
At least 193 Opposition MPs, including 130 from Lok Sabha and 63 from Rajya Sabha, had signed the notice of the motion seeking the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
In the notice, the first against a sitting Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), the Opposition members 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”.
Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, who held several press conferences a few months ago to highlight the alleged “vote chori”, has 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.