police-deployed-at-eci-office-ahead-of-delhi-congress-protest

Security personnel were deployed outside the Election Commission of India office in New Delhi ahead of a Delhi Congress demonstration against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and the demand for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation.

 

The Indian Youth Congress is scheduled to conduct a protest march on Friday from 5, Raisina Road, to Jantar Mantar, with Kumar’s removal among its key demands. The demonstrations come as political parties intensify their criticism of the Election Commission’s functioning and the SIR exercise.

 

The controversy has also spread to several states. The Madhya Pradesh Youth Congress held a protest outside the office of the state Chief Electoral Officer in Bhopal on Thursday, raising slogans against the CEC and demanding his resignation over alleged irregularities in the poll panel’s functioning and the revision process.

 

Protesters carried posters bearing messages such as “arrest Gyanesh Kumar for treason” and “Vote-Chori magic trick exposed”. Bhopal district Youth Congress president Ankit Dubey alleged that no proper inquiry had been conducted despite objections by two Election Commissioners over the deletion of voters’ names and access to the voter database.

 

The Indian Youth Congress also launched a nationwide online citizens’ petition titled “Gyanesh, It’s Done Bro”. Through the campaign, it sought action against Kumar and urged citizens, especially young people, to support electoral transparency and accountability.

 

The petition called for Kumar’s removal as Chief Election Commissioner, along with his arrest and prosecution. It further demanded a comprehensive investigation into electoral-roll procedures, the alleged BJP connection raised by the campaign, and the release of electoral records and internal objections.

In Punjab, Pradesh Congress Committee president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring sought Kumar’s dismissal and demanded the registration of an FIR against him and his alleged collaborators, followed by their arrest. He also announced a march to the Election Commission office in Sector 17, Chandigarh, under the leadership of Sachin Pilot.

 

Warring said the march would begin at 11 AM on September 25 from near the RBI Office in Sector 17 and proceed towards the ECI office.

In Karnataka, the Pradesh Congress Committee submitted a police complaint seeking legal action against Gyanesh Kumar and BJP MLA Abhay Patil over alleged violations of citizens’ voting rights and alleged attempts to manipulate electoral rolls.

 

KPCC General Secretary S Manohar filed the complaint at High Grounds Police Station in Bengaluru. The Congress alleged that Patil had written to seek the deletion of eligible voters’ names from electoral rolls and demanded penal action against Kumar over the alleged arbitrary removal of valid voters.

Opposition parties are also preparing to submit an impeachment motion notice against Gyanesh Kumar in both Houses of Parliament. Congress has approached other opposition parties on the matter, and the notice is expected to be filed within the next two weeks.

 

The political dispute has been further fuelled by claims regarding the Election Commission’s internal decision-making. It has been alleged that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi raised objections at least 14 times over 10 months concerning decisions and orders linked to the SIR process. Another allegation states that the Goa Chief Electoral Officer wrote to authorities in Delhi eight times within seven days seeking access to certain facilities but received no response.

 

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday claimed with “100 per cent certainty” that elections held from the 2024 Lok Sabha polls to several Assembly contests had been “rigged”. He demanded Kumar’s resignation and alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were at the top of a conspiracy and would face investigation.

 

“The first thing we are saying is Mr. Gyanesh Kumar must resign immediately... This thing that you have done is an act against the Indian nation... A person who attacks the vote, who fundamentally destroys India’s democratic institution, is nothing other than a ‘Desh Drohi’,” Gandhi said.

He also said the Chief Election Commissioner should “turn Approver”.

 

In Raipur, All India Adivasi Congress President Vikrant Bhuria backed Gandhi’s allegations of “vote theft”, saying they were based on facts. Bhuria said claims about stolen votes, rigged elections, deletion of names from voter lists and the addition of ineligible voters had been raised during a campaign led by Gandhi.

 

“Whatever Rahul Gandhi says is based on facts, and history bears witness that every claim he has made has eventually been proven true. We had been campaigning for quite some time, under his leadership, against vote theft, highlighting that votes were being stolen, elections were being rigged, names were being deleted from voter lists, and the names of ineligible people were being added,” Bhuria said.

 

He further claimed that instances had been found where thousands of voters were registered at a single address. Bhuria said the allegations had been supported with facts, but the Election Commission had failed to take cognisance of them.

 

The Election Commission has rejected the suggestion that objections raised by Sandhu and Joshi reflected structural or institutional dissent over final decisions. It said operational queries, internal feedback and administrative suggestions made during the drafting process were part of the normal functioning of a multi-member constitutional body, and maintained that all final decisions, including those concerning SIR, were unanimous.

 

The poll panel has also described ECINet as a secure, decentralised digital platform operated under the Representation of the People Acts, 1950 and 1951. It said statutory duties on the platform are performed by designated field officers, including Booth Level Officers, Assistant Electoral Registration Officers, Electoral Registration Officers, District Election Officers and Chief Electoral Officers, through unique IDs and secure credentials.

 

The Congress Working Committee meeting scheduled for September 29 in New Delhi is expected to discuss the controversy surrounding SIR and the Election Commission’s internal functioning.