The Congress party sharpened its attack on Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Monday, holding protest marches across Maharashtra and demonstrations elsewhere in the country over alleged irregularities in the voter rolls and the conduct of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
Party workers marched outside district collectorates in Pune, Nagpur, Nashik, Kolhapur, Solapur, Thane, Amravati and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, submitting memoranda demanding Kumar's removal and arrest. The agitation comes amid a running political row over the SIR, which the opposition has branded "vote theft".
Protests across the state
In Amravati, Congress workers paraded an effigy of the Chief Election Commissioner on a donkey, while in Thane an effigy was made to perform sit-ups. Maharashtra Congress leaders including Satej Patil, Praniti Shinde, Yashomati Thakur, Balwant Wankhade and Kalyan Kale took part, and party leaders said the agitation would continue and intensify until Kumar is removed and action taken against him.
Protests were also held in Srinagar, led by Pawan Khera, and in Karaikudi in Tamil Nadu, where former finance minister P. Chidambaram joined demonstrators.
The report that fuelled the agitation
The latest round of protests follows an Indian Express investigation reporting that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections at least 14 times over 10 months to electoral-roll decisions they said were taken without their knowledge or approval. The decisions in question included additions and deletions of voters, changes to Form 6, and control of the voter database. Some internal notes described certain steps as "unauthorised" or "illegal", according to the report.
ECI's response
The Election Commission responded that the notes were part of normal internal decision-making and rejected the suggestion that its decisions were not collectively taken. It said its decisions over the period were unanimous and dismissed claims of an internal rift.
The Congress's deletion claim
The Congress alleged that more than 13 crore names were deleted from draft rolls during the SIR across 30 states and Union Territories. The Hindu, which reported the party's claim, cautioned that the reported deletion figure by itself does not establish that the deletions were improper.
Sources:
The Hindu: SIR row: Congress holds protest across Maharashtra seeking Gyanesh Kumar's removal
Times Now: Oppn Corners Centre During Nationwide Protest, Demands CEC's Sacking Amid 'Voter Chori' Row
Party workers marched outside district collectorates in Pune, Nagpur, Nashik, Kolhapur, Solapur, Thane, Amravati and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, submitting memoranda demanding Kumar's removal and arrest. The agitation comes amid a running political row over the SIR, which the opposition has branded "vote theft".
Protests across the state
In Amravati, Congress workers paraded an effigy of the Chief Election Commissioner on a donkey, while in Thane an effigy was made to perform sit-ups. Maharashtra Congress leaders including Satej Patil, Praniti Shinde, Yashomati Thakur, Balwant Wankhade and Kalyan Kale took part, and party leaders said the agitation would continue and intensify until Kumar is removed and action taken against him.
Protests were also held in Srinagar, led by Pawan Khera, and in Karaikudi in Tamil Nadu, where former finance minister P. Chidambaram joined demonstrators.
The report that fuelled the agitation
The latest round of protests follows an Indian Express investigation reporting that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections at least 14 times over 10 months to electoral-roll decisions they said were taken without their knowledge or approval. The decisions in question included additions and deletions of voters, changes to Form 6, and control of the voter database. Some internal notes described certain steps as "unauthorised" or "illegal", according to the report.
ECI's response
The Election Commission responded that the notes were part of normal internal decision-making and rejected the suggestion that its decisions were not collectively taken. It said its decisions over the period were unanimous and dismissed claims of an internal rift.
The Congress's deletion claim
The Congress alleged that more than 13 crore names were deleted from draft rolls during the SIR across 30 states and Union Territories. The Hindu, which reported the party's claim, cautioned that the reported deletion figure by itself does not establish that the deletions were improper.
Sources:
The Hindu: SIR row: Congress holds protest across Maharashtra seeking Gyanesh Kumar's removal
Times Now: Oppn Corners Centre During Nationwide Protest, Demands CEC's Sacking Amid 'Voter Chori' Row
