What began as a legal tussle over India’s electoral roll revision process has become a full-blown political and street confrontation, set to erupt in nationwide protests starting October 2.
The current phase of the controversy began with a report by The Indian Express that says there is major dissent within the poll panel over decisions on Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and electoral rolls. Read full story here!
According to the opposition, two Election Commissioners objected to roll changes multiple times over roughly ten months, calling certain ones unauthorised.
Election Commission officials said decisions including the pan-India SIR were taken unanimously by all three commissioners.
That legal thread has fed into a parliament where the I.N.D.I.A. bloc is now planning a notice to impeach the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC).
In the wake of the opposition’s allegation of “vote chori” around the SIR exercise, a decision was taken in a floor leaders’ meeting chaired by Rajya Sabha Leader and Indian National Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge.
Congress said Gyanesh Kumar was ruling “like a dictator” and was involved in “vote theft”, while Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has asked the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognisance of the matter.
CPI(M)’s John Brittas is asking the Supreme Court to “annul the entire SIR process without delay” and confirmed that a removal notice with around 70 signatories had already been submitted in April.
The street phase: CJP’s ultimatum
The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke has taken up the gauntlet from the corridors of Parliament to the streets.
Dipke gave Kumar a 48-hour ultimatum to resign, adding that if Kumar does not by Saturday, the CJP would launch nationwide protests.
The party is demanding Kumar’s resignation, a freeze on upcoming elections and repeal of the 2023 law on Election Commissioner appointments.
Symbolism is being built into the timing of the protests set to begin in Mumbai on October 2 (coinciding with Gandhi Jayanti), and spread to cities across the country.
Co-founder Ashutosh Ranka said the date was a reclaiming of republican values. Dipke has also pointed criticism towards the opposition parties.
He said that the opposition is continuing to contest elections while alleging the process is compromised, but that remains a contested fact.
What is this trajectory telling?
A bureaucratic appointment disputed and litigated in the Supreme Court, an internal ECI rift revealed through investigative journalism, an impeachment threat made in Parliament and now a nationwide mobilisation of the streets with a hard deadline.
Each venue has failed to answer the question of the Election Commission’s independence, and the confrontation has moved into the next venue.
Whether October 2 will be marked as an increase in the confrontational stakes, or reach a peak, would be determined by the ECI’s response in the coming days.
Will Gyanesh Kumar choose to respond with a resignation demand?
