CEC Gyanesh Kumar ‘enemy’ of country, has gone underground: Sanjay Raut

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Monday alleged that Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar was an “enemy of the country” and had gone underground, amid widespread protests by Opposition parties seeking his resignation.

The Election Commission (EC) should meet Opposition MPs who have faced injustice in states where the poll body helped the ruling BJP, Raut told reporters.

All Opposition MPs will march to the Election Commission of India's office in New Delhi on Tuesday, he said.

The Opposition's attack on the CEC comes following The Indian Express report that 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 on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process that they said were issued without their knowledge or recommendation.

Under fire over the red flags raised by two of its commissioners, the EC has asserted that differing views and observations are part of deliberations in any institution and that all its orders carry full legal sanction and follow established statutory procedures.

“Gyanesh Kumar is an enemy of the country,” Raut alleged. “Gyanesh Kumar should come before us. He is underground,” he claimed.

The Rajya Sabha member further said Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis should not bat for Kumar.

The EC should meet the Opposition MPs against whom injustice has been done, be it West Bengal, Maharashtra or Bihar. These are the states where the poll body helped the BJP, Raut alleged.

Opposition MPs will march to the Election Commission of India headquarters in Delhi on Tuesday over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls and to press for CEC Gyanesh Kumar's resignation.

On Sunday, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and his cousin Raj Thackeray, who heads the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), led a protest march in Mumbai seeking the CEC's ouster. Several Congress and NCP (SP) leaders also joined the protest.