A group of 73 Opposition members in the Rajya Sabha has submitted a fresh notice of motion seeking the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging “proven misbehaviour” and accusing him of undermining constitutional principles.
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar ordered the immediate removal of an Election Commission-appointed observer on Wednesday after expressing strong dissatisfaction over the officer's lack of basic knowledge about his assigned constituency.
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 a significant development, Speaker of the Lok Sabha Om Birla on Monday refused to admit a motion seeking the removal of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, according to an official release from the Lok Sabha Legislative Branch.
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Sunday announced the schedule for Assembly elections in four states — West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, and Kerala — and the Union Territory of Puducherry, assuring “inducement-free and violence-free” polls while stressing the importance of “pure electoral rolls”.
A total of 1,444 officers—comprising 714 General Observers, 233 Police Observers, and 497 Expenditure Observers—are participating in the sessions held in three batches at the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM) in New Delhi on February 5 and 6.
The last such conference was held in 1999. The upcoming event aims to strengthen institutional coordination between the ECI and State Election Commissions amid an increasingly complex electoral environment.
The West Bengal chief minister sounds poll bugle, saying her party, the Trinamool Congress, will go it alone in the upcoming assembly elections and "will win with even a larger margin".
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Banerjee accused the Election Commission of working under the ruling BJP’s direction.
On the 16th National Voters' Day, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar delivered a powerful address reaffirming India’s status as the world’s largest and most transparent democracy.
