Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: The joint opposition on Friday moved Parliament for removal of Gyanesh Kumar as chief election commissioner (CEC), a critical step that takes the anti-BJP camp’s protest against the nationwide SIR and conduct of elections to the extreme limit that would further widen its already yawning chasm with the NDA. The removal notice comes just before EC announces schedule for assembly polls in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Assam and Puducherry, where key INDIA bloc members are pitted against BJP, as also against each other. Opposition MPs submitted removal notices in both Houses of Parliament, with 130 Lok Sabha members and 63 from Rajya Sabha signing the petitions. The notices include not just INDIA bloc parties but also some Independent MPs and AAP which has been waging its own battle against EC, with grave allegations about Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Delhi. AAP had walked out of the bloc after the 2024 LS polls. Sources in the INDIA bloc said the petitions have seven charges against Kumar, chiefly alleged “partisan and discriminatory conduct in office”, “deliberate obstruction of investigation of electoral fraud”, “mass disenfranchisement of voters”, and “misbehaviour”. The opposition has also raised the issue over the SIR that was conducted for the 2025 Bihar polls and the forthcoming elections in states like West Bengal, and CEC’s partial conduct towards a political party, they said. The opposition has been accusing the EC of seeking to help BJP through SIR. CEC’s removal notice is a TMC initiative, with West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee having first made the demand during the Budget session in Feb. The move came to fruition after Mamata led a bellicose multiple-day protest in Kolkata. Process for removing CEC is similar to that of a Supreme Court judge – incumbent can be removed only on “grounds of proven misbehaviour or incapacity”. As per Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968, once motion to remove a judge is admitted in LS or RS, speaker or chairman will constitute a three-member panel to probe the grounds. Once it submits its report, it will be tabled in the House and discussions will follow. The motion has to be passed by both Houses by majority of total membership and two-thirds majority of MPs present and voting. Given that NDA has majority in LS and RS, it makes the opposition’s move a non-starter. There was a quid pro quo of sorts that ensured an early submission of the notices in LS and RS. TMC did not sign the removal notice against Speaker Om Birla that was backed by other opposition parties, but it supported the notice when it came up in LS this week, after an understanding within the INDIA bloc to jointly sponsor the notice against the CEC.
