Opposition parties will consider pushing to impeach Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over his alleged failure in discharging the constitutional duty of ensuring free and fair elections, top leaders of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) said on Monday.
Congress general secretary Naseer Hussain told reporters, “If there is a need, we can use all the weapons of the democracy under the rules.”
In a meeting, chaired by Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday, the opposition parties arrived at a broad agreement to push an impeachment notice against the CEC, something they had done against former vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar last year, a number of Opposition leaders said.
But it appeared unlikely that any such move will happen in the current session, which is set to close by the end of the week, as such a notice can be given at least 14 days in advance. This means INDIA leaders can move the notice earliest in the winter session.
Later at a press conference, the representatives of eight opposition parties, the Congress, Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Aam Aadmi Party and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), said the CEC “failed” to answer their questions on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar and issues related to voter list irregularities, instead choosing to attack them at his presser on Sunday.
RJD’s Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha announced that the “Opposition is keeping both parliamentary and legal options open”. Congress’s Gaurav Gogoi confirmed that the issue of impeachment was discussed at length. “There was a broad consensus and a timely decision will be taken.”
{{/usCountry}}RJD’s Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha announced that the “Opposition is keeping both parliamentary and legal options open”. Congress’s Gaurav Gogoi confirmed that the issue of impeachment was discussed at length. “There was a broad consensus and a timely decision will be taken.”
{{/usCountry}}In Kolkata, TMC Lok Sabha leader Abhishek Banerjee confirmed that impeachment was being considered.
“The ECI is not neutral, not impartial, and is not working for the Constitution’s welfare. The fight against ECI will continue everywhere. If we were to introduce an impeachment motion, we would need to give 14 days’ notice. Since Parliament ends on the 21st, we may not be able to do it this session. But given how the ECI is functioning, we will certainly do it, if not now, then in the next session,” he said.
The procedure for removing the CEC is the same as that for removing a Supreme Court or high court judge. As per law, the CEC can be removed only by Parliament. The Constitution says a motion supported by 50 MPs of the Rajya Sabha or 100 MPs of the Lok Sabha has to be moved in Parliament and passed by the House with a two-thirds majority of those present and voting.
Article 324 (5) of the Constitution says, “Provided that the Chief Election Commissioner shall not be removed from his office except in like manner and on the like grounds as a judge of the Supreme Court and the conditions of service of the Chief Election Commissioner shall not be varied to his disadvantage after his appointment.”
Simply put, a CEC can be removed only through an impeachment. In 2006, the BJP petitioned to President to remove then then CEC Navin Chawla.
Last December, at least 60 Opposition MPs submitted a notice seeking removal of former V-P Dhankhar, but the notice was rejected by Rajya Sabha deputy chairperson Harivansh, calling it to be “bereft of facts” and aimed at securing “publicity”.
The developments came a day after ECI on Sunday called the Opposition’s allegations of “vote theft” during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and discrepancies in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Bihar’s electoral rolls false and baseless, adding that the public was being misled and the Constitution undermined through these charges.
In a press conference, Kumar called upon Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to provide proof of the alleged voter fraud or withdraw his remarks and said that ECI will not be cowed by political attacks.
On Monday, the Opposition hit back.
Congress’s Nasser Hussain said that they had expected ECI will clarify the questions raised by Rahul Gandhi. “But the way the press conference was held yesterday, it is very clear from it that the allegations that we have been making, which have been going on continuously in this country for many years, especially in the last 10-11 years, the way the autonomous bodies, the constitutional bodies, have been taken over by the government, the way they have been misled, the way these constitutional bodies have been compromised, in the same way ECI also seems to be compromised in a way,” he added.
Gogoi argued that Kumar was “silent” on several issues such as how seven million votes were allegedly added in Maharashtra in five months, the deletion of CCTV footage within 45 days, and the 100,000 allegedly dubious voters in the Mahadevapura assembly segment of Banagalore Central Lok Sabha seat.
TMC’s Mahua Moitra called the CEC’s press conference as “shameful” and “display of puppetry”.
Jha pointed out how Opposition parties came together against ECI for the first time and alleged that CEC didn’t give any reply to any important questions. “They deliberately conducted the press conference at that time to divert footage from Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav’s rally. ECI must remember we get power from constitution.”
AAP’s Sanjay Singh lashed out at the CEC, saying, “You have deducted 65 lakh votes in Bihar but not added a single vote. You wanted documents in a state where a large section is flood prone. What did you do? BJP is saying intruders’ vote is being deducted. They are labelling all deducted voters as intruders.”
The Opposition pushed a resolution that said, “The CEC gave no clarification or comment on the SC’s order of August 14, which rejected their argument seeking to prevent release of basic data of the 65 lakh voters deleted in Bihar. The CEC offered no comment on why the Bihar SIR was being conducted in such as hasty, ill-prepared and ad-hoc manner.”
“ECI has completely failed in discharging its constitutional duty of ensuring a free and fair electoral system in the country. It has now become clear that the ECI is not being led by officers who can ensure a level playing field. To the contrary, it is now clear, that those who lead the ECI divert and thwart any attempt at a meaningful inquire into voter fraud and instead opt to intimidate those who challenge the ruling party. This is a serious indictment,” the resolution said.