NEW DELHI, Oct 5: The Congress on Monday demanded the immediate resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging that his role in implementing what the party described as “illegal orders” had made him a “liability for the country”.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh made the remarks a day after Supreme Court judge Justice Ujjal Bhuyan said that any process resulting in the “disenfranchisement” of millions of Indian citizens would be “intrinsically arbitrary” and a “negation” of the constitutional order.
Sharing a video of Bhuyan’s remarks on X, Ramesh said Kumar should resign if he had “any sense of shame”.
“His ability to execute G2’s illegal orders have now made him a liability for the country,” Ramesh said. The Congress leader frequently uses the term “G2” to refer to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
The Congress has been targeting the Election Commission over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and has alleged that the exercise could disenfranchise voters.
On Sunday, the party cited Bhuyan’s remarks to claim that the Chief Election Commissioner had violated the Constitution “in letter and spirit”.
Ramesh said Bhuyan had “forcefully expressed” the view that the right to vote forms part of the basic structure of the Constitution and alleged that Kumar had “lost all moral right” to continue in office.
The Congress’s criticism came days after a report in The Indian Express said Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had objected on record at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders related to the SIR process, which they reportedly said were issued without their knowledge or recommendation.
The Election Commission, facing questions over the reported differences, has maintained that differing views and observations are a normal part of institutional deliberations and that all its orders have full legal sanction and follow established statutory procedures.
Justice Bhuyan, speaking at NALSAR University of Law in Hyderabad, said the Constitution does not provide for two classes of citizens — those with voting rights and those without them.
He said a process that resulted in millions of citizens being deprived of voting rights would be violative of Articles 326 and 14 of the Constitution.
The judge said the right to vote is linked to India’s struggle for freedom and described it as a constitutional right that forms an integral part of democracy.
Referring to a Supreme Court order, Bhuyan said the right to vote of a citizen cannot be separated from the mandate of Article 326.
