Meira Kumar to chair INDIA bloc’s ‘public impeachment’ of CEC on 30 Oct

• Meira Kumar chairs the INDIA bloc’s symbolic proceedings against CEC Gyanesh Kumar on 30 October.

• Kharge moves the ‘motion’, while Rahul Gandhi delivers the concluding remarks.

• Opposition parties cite alleged vote theft and irregularities in the electoral roll revision.

Former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar will chair the INDIA bloc’s symbolic ‘public impeachment’ of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on 30 October, with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge moving the ‘motion’ and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi delivering the concluding remarks before it is adopted, sources said on Thursday, 29 October.

INDIA bloc leaders met at Kharge’s residence in New Delhi to finalise the proceedings, which the opposition intends to hold as a protest over alleged ‘vote chori (theft)’.

Congress general-secretaries Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Jairam Ramesh and K.C. Venugopal, senior Congress leader Meira Kumar, TMC’s Derek O’Brien, Samajwadi Party’s Harendra Malik, JMM’s Mahua Maji and CPI(M)’s John Brittas, among others, attended the meeting.

Speaking to media in Bengaluru, Kharge said the Opposition’s protest would continue over the alleged “vote theft and the mischief” carried out by the CEC.

“We are protesting against that and will continue to do so. All parties are supporting us. Even tomorrow, there is mock Parliament and on 1 November, we are having this rally and people from across the country are coming. We will fight. In a democracy, if you don’t fight, people will not be awakened,” the Congress president said.

After the meeting, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Pawan Khera said leaders had discussed the details of the ‘public impeachment’. “Most of the INDIA bloc leaders were present and we went through all the points on how to proceed with the public impeachment,” he said.

Congress deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi said the Opposition wanted key issues concerning the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and alleged vote theft to be discussed.

“We want every important issue related to SIR and vote theft to be discussed. The pain of the people and the attack on democracy should be brought to light through discussion, and people should be encouraged that we are all united in saving democracy. A message of unity will go out tomorrow,” he said.

Samajwadi Party’s Harendra Malik said only one representative from each party would speak at the proceedings. “It has been decided that either the party leader himself will speak tomorrow or nominate someone to speak on his behalf,” he added.

On Wednesday, Congress Rajya Sabha MP and general-secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh said after being denied other venues, the INDIA bloc would hold the symbolic proceedings at Kharge’s residence at 10 Rajaji Marg at 3.30 pm.

'The CEC has demonstrably violated the letter and spirit of the Constitution. He has systematically subverted the very foundations of our electoral democracy. He has, to put it bluntly, lied to the Supreme Court,' Ramesh said in a post on X.

'He has been the willing executioner on behalf of the Diabolical Duo whose turn will come next,' he added, in an apparent reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah.

The Congress on Tuesday said it had been denied permission to hold the ‘public impeachment’ of the CEC and accused the government of trying to silence ordinary people after “destroying” the electoral system.

The Congress and other Opposition parties have been demanding Kumar’s resignation over alleged irregularities in the SIR of electoral rolls, following an Indian Express report last month detailing how he had been unilaterally taking decisions about the exercise and shutting out his fellow election commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.

With PTI inputs