Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on the Election Commission of India (ECI), demanding the immediate arrest of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar. Addressing a press conference in Mumbai, Uddhav Thackeray accused CEC Gyanesh Kumar of destroying democracy at the behest of the central government and acting as the leader of a gang that created divisions among political parties.
He also demanded cancellation of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal assembly elections and holding fresh elections. Thackeray's sharp reaction came after a media report revealed major infighting within the three-member election panel.
According to reports, Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi submitted a formal complaint to Cabinet Secretary TV Somanathan. He alleged that CEC Gyanesh Kumar was taking unilateral decisions regarding Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) without consulting him or taking into account his dissent.
Thackeray said the internal disclosure of the matter by Election Commissioners Vivek Joshi and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu shows how arbitrary this administration was. He praised the election commissioners for showing courage. The media and the public will have to come out of fear. When a gang of political dacoits is openly murdering democracy, the citizens and the press must stand up to protect the Constitution.
Reacting to these revelations, the former Chief Minister of Maharashtra said that this news has confirmed what the opposition had been alleging for years about the arbitrary functioning of the central agency.
Thackeray said that the real face of Gyanesh Kumar has been revealed to the country. He is the main mastermind of the gang which breaks political parties, steals party names and murders democracy. He should be put in jail immediately. With two of the three commissioners rebelling against his high-handedness, the majority is now against the Chief Election Commissioner.
Questioning the fairness of the recent electoral processes, Thackeray alleged massive manipulation of voter lists in the state. He claimed that more than 45 lakh names were arbitrarily added to the voter list during the Maharashtra Assembly elections, while 40 lakh names were questioned or marked for deletion during the subsequent SIR process.
Thackeray alleged that the ECI was the first to target his party. During a crucial by-election, the party's real name and election symbol were frozen and then illegally handed over to the rebel group.
He said that later the same method was adopted against Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and now the same is being done against the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal.
Thackeray asked why the name of veteran BJP leader LK Advani had also disappeared from the voter list. Do they behave like this with the person who brought them to power?
While demanding re-election in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Bengal, he said that the new elections should be conducted entirely through physical ballot paper instead of EVMs.
Questioning the political influence behind the functioning of the Election Commission, Uddhav Thackeray demanded an impartial inquiry into whether the Election Commission was taking direct orders from the Union Home Ministry.
He said that if the ECI is working on the instructions of the Home Ministry, then the country has the right to know whether Union Home Minister Amit Shah himself is directing these activities.
He warned that if democratic institutions continue to be compromised in this manner, citizens will be forced to take to the streets in protest.