The internal dispute arising in the administrative corridors of the Election Commission of India has now become the biggest and explosive issue in the mainstream politics of the country. The political atmosphere has become completely heated after the media reports regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) campaign of the voter list. The main opposition party Congress has opened a direct front against the Central Government and the Election Commission regarding the working style, decisions and unilateral administrative decisions taken by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar. The Congress Party has formally announced a nationwide movement against the Chief Election Commissioner and has demanded his immediate dismissal, judicial inquiry into his decisions and even his arrest, due to which there are chances of huge confrontation in the coming days from the streets to the Parliament.
After this serious institutional crisis that has arisen at the top level of the Election Commission, the Congress high command has made its tough stance clear. The party has officially clarified that when serious discrepancies are coming to light within the most basic and impartial institution of democracy, then it cannot be ignored as normal differences. Congress has bluntly demanded that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar be immediately dismissed from his constitutional post. Along with this, the party has also raised the demand that an independent, high-level and impartial judicial inquiry should be conducted into all the technical and administrative changes made in the voter list, circulars issued and every decision related to election management during the entire tenure of Gyanesh Kumar. Congress clearly alleges that tampering with the voter list is a direct attack on the rights of the voters of the country.
Sharing the detailed action plan of the movement, All India Congress Committee’s Organization General Secretary KC Venugopal released the party’s official program on social media platform X. He said that this nationwide movement has been divided into two well-planned and big phases. Under the first phase of the movement, on Friday, September 25, all the State Congress Committees (PCCs) across the country will encircle the State Chief Electoral Officer offices located in their respective state capitals on a large scale. Under the second phase of the movement, on Monday, September 28, all District Congress Committees (DCC) will organize massive protest marches and demonstrations at Collectorates and District Election Offices in every district of India. KC Venugopal gave a strong message saying that Gyanesh Kumar must step down and all the unconstitutional decisions imposed by him should be cancelled. He made it clear that until these demands are concretely implemented, this peaceful and democratic demonstration of the party will continue. At the same time, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi also reacted sharply on social media and said that those who hurt the Constitution and the basic structure of democracy have been exposed before the public and the people of the country will get fair electoral justice.
This entire political uproar started with the publication of a detailed investigative report by the prestigious English daily ‘Indian Express’. The report, quoting official documents and internal processes, made a sensational revelation that all is not well within the three-member Election Commission of India. The report said that Election Commissioner Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Election Commissioner Vivek Joshi had officially registered their strong objections at least 14 times within the last 10 months regarding administrative orders and policy changes related to the special intensive revision of the voter list. The surprising thing is that four of these important objections were filed in just one day. Both the Commissioners had clearly underlined in the official minutes that several sensitive policy decisions, changes in the format of forms and official instructions were issued directly from the level of the Chief Election Commissioner without their prior consent or knowledge.
These objections lodged by two senior members of the Commission included serious issues like adding additional declaration along with ‘Form-6′ used for registration of new voters and centralization of voter database limiting the autonomy of the grassroots level officials. Since this revelation, the opposition alliance has been attacking and is calling it an unforgivable compromise with the credibility of the electoral system. However, the Election Commission later issued a general clarification saying that it is natural for different views to emerge in a multi-member body and all important initiatives taken in recent times have been taken forward only with mutual consent. On the contrary, the opposition parties are completely rejecting this argument and Congress’ call for this nationwide movement will now see massive protests at state and district headquarters across the country on 25 and 28 September, thereby intensifying the ongoing national debate on electoral reforms and the autonomy of the Election Commission.