The Opposition is preparing to move a fresh impeachment motion against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, with Congress taking the lead and parties in the INDIA bloc agreeing to support the initiative, according to sources. A new notice is being drafted and could be submitted in Parliament as early as next week.
The proposed move comes amid renewed questions over the functioning of the Election Commission following reports that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised formal objections on at least 14 occasions over a 10-month period. The objections reportedly covered several decisions related to electoral rolls and the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
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The Opposition has cited the reported objections as additional grounds for seeking action against Kumar. The Election Commission, however, has rejected the suggestion that the reported exchanges amounted to a formal split within the three-member panel. The poll body has maintained that its decisions, including those related to SIR, were unanimous.
The latest initiative follows an earlier attempt by Opposition MPs to seek Kumar’s removal. On April 24, 73 Opposition MPs in the Rajya Sabha submitted a notice seeking his removal on allegations of “proven misbehaviour”. Congress had said the notice contained nine specific charges.
A similar attempt had been made in March, when Opposition parties submitted notices in both Houses. Those notices were subsequently rejected by the Rajya Sabha Chairman and Lok Sabha Speaker. According to Opposition sources, the April notice remains pending in the Rajya Sabha.
Sources said the fresh notice is being prepared because the composition of Parliament has changed since the earlier initiative, with some of the previous signatories having subsequently switched sides. The new motion is also expected to incorporate the latest allegations concerning the functioning of the Election Commission.
The controversy intensified after reports that Sandhu and Joshi had recorded objections concerning several aspects of electoral-roll management. These reportedly included the addition of new voters, deletion and restoration of names, appeals against electoral-roll decisions and changes to Form 6, the statutory application used for voter registration.
One reported objection concerned changes to Form 6. According to the investigation, the two Election Commissioners had questioned whether such changes could be made without amendments to the relevant electoral rules.
Concerns were also reportedly raised over access to electoral-roll databases and the role of the Election Commission’s information-technology systems. The objections allegedly questioned whether access to voter databases was becoming more centralised and whether statutory officials at the state and constituency levels retained adequate control.
The Election Commission has defended its internal decision-making process. In an eight-point response, it said written observations, technical suggestions and internal checks are normal within a multi-member constitutional body. It stressed that such exchanges should not automatically be interpreted as dissent over final decisions.
The Commission said its actions were taken in accordance with law and established procedures and maintained that its final decisions had been unanimous.
Under the legal framework governing the removal of a Chief Election Commissioner, proceedings require the requisite parliamentary support before an inquiry and further parliamentary consideration. Removal ultimately requires a special majority.
The proposed fresh motion is therefore likely to bring the Election Commission’s functioning and the SIR process back into focus when Parliament takes up the matter.
