NEW DELHI: India’s opposition parties are demanding the resignation of the country’s Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar after a newspaper investigation alleged that key decisions in a controversial nationwide voter-roll revision were taken without the approval of two of the three election commissioners.
According to an Indian Express report last week, key decisions linked to the contentious revision exercise were taken without the approval of two of the three election commissioners.
The Election Commission of India, a constitutional body, has rejected the allegations, saying all its decisions were unanimous and legally valid.
Opposition parties have long raised doubts about the nationwide revision, which has seen millions of names removed from voter rolls, saying it benefits Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Here is a rundown of the major issues at stake:
What is the controversy?
The English-language daily reported that the poll body had been riven by internal disagreements since the so-called Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter lists started last year.
The Indian Express reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi recorded objections at least 14 times over 10 months to decisions they said had been taken without their knowledge. The objections concerned voter deletions, registration of new voters and changes to electoral procedures.
More than 130 million names have been struck from draft rolls across 30 states and union territories during the exercise.
Opposition parties have stated that the scale and implementation of the revision could disenfranchise legitimate voters, particularly among vulnerable and minority communities. They have also questioned whether the process could affect electoral competition in favour of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The issue has nevertheless intensified scrutiny of the poll body’s functioning. The objections included concerns over changes to Form 6, used by new voters to register, as well as the centralisation of access to electoral databases.
The controversy now places the credibility and internal decision-making of one of India’s key constitutional institutions under unusually intense public and political scrutiny.
The Indian Express reported that two of the ECI’s three commissioners formally lodged objections at least 14 times in the last 10 months over key SIR decisions that led to the omission of 130 million voters.
Under India’s constitution, decisions by the three-member poll body should be taken by consensus or a majority.
Why has the SIR caused a stir?
The ECI says the SIR exercise is intended to identify fraudulently registered voters while ensuring those who are eligible remain on the rolls.
But critics say the drive has disproportionately affected marginalised and minority communities.
Members of Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party have long alleged that large numbers of undocumented Muslim migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh have fraudulently entered India’s electoral rolls.
Opposition parties are demanding the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation and calling for an independent investigation into the Election Commission’s functioning and the SIR exercise.
Congress leaders have also called for scrutiny of whether decisions challenged by the other commissioners were properly authorised.
The dispute comes at a sensitive time for India’s electoral system, with the Election Commission responsible for maintaining the rolls on which millions of citizens depend to exercise their constitutional right to vote.
What happens next?
Opposition parties are demanding Kumar’s resignation and a Supreme Court-led investigation into the matter.
They are also seeking an independent probe into the Election Commission’s functioning as well as the voter-roll revision.
“If decisions relating to the SIR were taken without the knowledge or approval of two of the three Election Commissioners… then those decisions and the entire SIR exercise are legally invalid,” Pawan Khera of the main opposition Congress party said on social media.
“Gyanesh Kumar has done nothing short of treason.”
The youth-led Cockroach Janta Party has also threatened to hit the streets from October 2 — the birth anniversary of India’s founding father Mahatma Gandhi — if Kumar does not resign.
The online movement, which has millions of followers on social media, forced education minister Dharmendra Pradhan to resign in July, following widespread student-led street protests.
