NEW DELHI, SEP 25 (PTI): Upping the ante over SIR row, the Congress on Friday staged protests by attempting to march towards state election commission offices in various parts of the country, demanding CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s immediate arrest, removal from office, and an independent review of all decisions and electoral roll changes made under him.
The opposition party also accused the Election Commission of carrying out an “unprecedented attack” on voter equality by allegedly creating a specific ‘Mark VIP’ feature in BLO application and urged Kumar to either turn “approver” or face trial.
Several senior leaders and workers were detained as police used barricades to stop them from marching towards the state election commission offices in various state capitals.
The protests come in the wake of The Indian Express report that questions were repeatedly raised on issues related to SIR of electoral rolls within three-member EC by two of three commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.
The national rollout of SIR has been under the supervision of all three commissioners. But Sandhu and Joshi have formally objected, on record, at least 14 times over the last 10 months to decisions taken and orders issued, they say, without their knowledge, according to the report.
As part of the party’s offensive over the issue, all district Congress committees will organise similar massive protest marches to their respective district collectorates on September 28.
Plea filed in SC seeking criminal prosecution of CEC Gyanesh Kumar
NEW DELHI, SEP 25 (PTI): A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking criminal prosecution of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged violations of statutory duties in connection with the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The plea filed by advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi through advocate Chand Qureshi seeks that decisions, guidelines and software modifications allegedly undertaken by Kumar without the concurrence of the two election commissioners be declared unconstitutional and void.
It also seeks a declaration that all such decisions relating to the SIR are illegal and restoration of the original Form 6.
It further seeks an inquiry by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the alleged deletion of around 13 crore voters from electoral rolls during the revision exercise.
The petitioner has sought criminal prosecution of Kumar, Deputy Election Commissioner Maneesh Garg and Seema Khanna, IT head of the Election Commission (EC), alleging violation of their statutory duties under the Representation of the People Act.
The petition has been filed days after a report by The Indian Express said Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had recorded objections on at least 14 occasions over decisions and orders concerning SIR.