Gyanesh Kumar Faces Protests Over Election Commission Leak — SkimNews
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- The Indian Express reported that two Election Commission members — Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi — raised concerns with Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar at least 14 times in 10 months, with some decisions reportedly taken without their knowledge.
- Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and opposition parties are launching nationwide protests starting October 2 in Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata demanding Kumar's resignation, after the CJP issued him a 48-hour ultimatum.
- Kumar was appointed under a new Modi government law that overturned a Supreme Court-recommended selection mechanism, granting the government authority to pick election commissioners and immunity for actions taken while conducting elections.
- The Election Commission downplayed the dispute by stating that despite concerns raised at different stages, final decisions were unanimous; the controversy unfolds amid the Special Intensive Revision that has removed millions of names from electoral rolls.
- Kumar's removal is protected under Article 324(5) on par with a Supreme Court judge, requiring a parliamentary motion with special majorities in both houses — a mechanism that has never succeeded, and one that both house chairpersons rejected the opposition invoking earlier this year.
- Congress workers who defaced Kumar's residence in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh were booked under charges of attempt to murder, underscoring the escalation between opposition protesters and authorities.
Why it matters: Removing Kumar requires a parliamentary motion with special majorities in both houses — a threshold no CEC removal has ever cleared — meaning street protests are unlikely to force his exit and pressure will shift toward scrapping the Special Intensive Revision and the pending constitutional challenge to Modi's appointment law at the Supreme Court.
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