'Gyanesh Kumar must resign', CJP announces protest; Opposition to move impeachment motion

NEW DELHI: The Opposition will move an impeachment motion against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in both Houses of Parliament. The Opposition has stepped up its attack after the Supreme Court also raised questions about the independence of the Election Commission. The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has announced that it will launch another protest at Jantar Mantar if Gyanesh Kumar does not resign within two days.

Congress leaders have started consultations with Opposition parties and legal experts to submit the impeachment notice within two weeks. An impeachment notice submitted by 73 Opposition MPs in the Rajya Sabha on April 24 is yet to be decided on by the Rajya Sabha Chairman.

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi demanded that Gyanesh Kumar step down in the interest of the country and turn approver. He alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was protecting Gyanesh Kumar. Gandhi said the Congress would not allow the BJP and the Chief Election Commissioner to undermine the country’s electoral process. He also said there would be an investigation against Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah over the alleged conspiracy.

The CPM, CPI, CPI(ML) Liberation, Forward Bloc and RSP also demanded Gyanesh Kumar’s removal in a joint statement. Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra filed a complaint at the Parliament Street police station seeking registration of an FIR against Gyanesh Kumar.

IT department and questions over its functioning

More details have emerged about the objections raised by Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi against the Election Commission’s IT department and its head, Seema Khanna. The Commissioners had warned that the IT head had “no legal authority” to control officials working in the field.

1. The voter-roll management process across the country was being centralised in Delhi through software called ‘ECI Net’. Officials reportedly told the Commissioners that the software was weakening the decentralised process of preparing electoral rolls.
2. Officials in Goa had decided to restore the names of 97 people who were removed from the draft electoral roll during the SIR. However, they were not allowed to do so. The officials did not have access to the restoration option in the software, which could only be operated by the IT department in Delhi.
3. The Chief Electoral Officer of Goa sent eight emails to Delhi over seven days but received no response. Finally, the Deputy Election Commissioner in Delhi issued strict instructions to the head of the IT department. All 97 names were present in the final electoral roll published on February 21. However, it was later found that all of them had been removed by September 20.