India Protesters Target Chief Election Commissioner After Leak — SkimNews
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- Gyanesh Kumar faces nationwide protests starting October 2, organized by the Cockroach Janta Party youth movement and opposition parties, after The Indian Express reported that commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi raised concerns with him at least 14 times in 10 months, with some decisions taken without their knowledge.
- The Election Commission defended itself by saying its final decisions were unanimous despite internal differences, a response that failed to calm opposition parties who cited the disclosures as evidence of BJP-led manipulation of elections.
- Kumar is the first chief election commissioner appointed under a new Modi government law that gives the government authority to pick election commissioners and grants them immunity, overturning a mechanism previously recommended by India's Supreme Court; a five-judge constitutional bench is expected to begin hearing the opposition's challenge.
- The Special Intensive Revision of India's voter rolls, which has removed millions of names, is the second target of the movement, with Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders alleging the process is being used to steal votes, though BJP supporters argue cleaning rolls is a legitimate government duty.
- Kumar's removal is protected by Article 324(5), which gives the CEC the same removal protection as a Supreme Court judge, requiring a parliamentary motion with special majorities — a mechanism that has never succeeded; the chairpersons of both houses of Parliament already rejected the opposition's removal notice earlier this year.
- Congress workers who defaced the gates and walls of Kumar's residence in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh were booked under charges of attempt to murder, reflecting the rising tensions ahead of the planned protests.
Why it matters: Kumar is constitutionally insulated — no parliamentary motion to remove a CEC has ever succeeded — meaning street protests are the only available pressure tool, and even those face a tough October calendar of festivals. The movement's real target extends beyond Kumar: it demands scrapping the Special Intensive Revision that has already removed millions of voters from the rolls, a process with direct consequences for upcoming elections.
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