Mahua Moitra targets CEC amid escalating SIR row (Img: X)
New Delhi: A day after filing a formal complaint against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar at Parliament Street Police Station, TMC MP Mahua Moitra joined a protest demanding his resignation at Jantar Mantar on Friday.
The Indian Youth Congress (IYC) had marched from Raisina Road to Jantar Mantar as part of the demonstration against Kumar. Speaking to reporters, Moitra accused the CEC of wrongdoing and called for his prosecution.
"Gyanesh Kumar is a criminal and he needs to be prosecuted. He needs to resign", she said, adding that police deployment would not deter the protesters.
"The police is going to stop the protestors... The SIR process has to stop," she said.
Moitra's protest came amid a widening political dispute over the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The controversy intensified after an Indian Express investigation reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections on at least 14 occasions over 10 months regarding decisions and procedures linked to electoral rolls and database access.
The report said the objections included issues concerning changes to Form 6, centralisation of electoral-roll database controls and other aspects of the revision process.
The Election Commission, however, has rejected the characterisation of the reported differences as institutional dissent and maintained that decisions, including those related to SIR, were taken with the approval of all three commissioners.
On Thursday, Moitra filed a complaint at Parliament Street Police Station against Kumar, alleging procedural violations, unilateral decision-making and manipulation of electoral rolls. Her allegations followed the Indian Express report on the objections raised by Sandhu and Joshi.
Moitra has also alleged that changes were made to Form 6 and that electoral-roll systems were used in a manner that bypassed officials responsible for maintaining voter records. These remain allegations made by the TMC MP, while the Election Commission has defended its procedures and decisions.
The protests against Kumar have also spread beyond Delhi. In Patna, Bihar, police used water cannons to disperse Congress workers demonstrating against the CEC and demanding his resignation.
Similar scenes were reported in Chandigarh, Punjab, where police deployed water cannons during a Congress demonstration. Some protesters climbed on top of police vans during the protest.
Congress workers also held demonstrations in several other states and Union Territories, including Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Manipur.
The Congress has indicated that Opposition parties could move an impeachment motion against Kumar in Parliament. The issue is expected to be discussed at the Congress Working Committee meeting scheduled for September 29 in New Delhi.
The political confrontation comes as the reported differences within the Election Commission have intensified scrutiny of the SIR exercise and the functioning of the poll panel. The Election Commission has maintained that its final decisions were unanimous, while Opposition parties have continued to raise questions over the process.
