- Congress puts up posters in Delhi demanding CEC Gyanesh Kumar's removal
- Rahul Gandhi calls for Kumar's resignation over Election Commission report
- Election Commission states all decisions in the past year were unanimous
Upping the ante against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, the Congress has put up posters calling for his removal in the capital.
"Gyanesh Hatao, Chunav Aayog Bachao" (Remove Gyanesh, Save Election Commission) posters were put up by the OBC wing of the Delhi Congress at Delhi's ITO intersection on Friday morning.
The posters came a day after Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi demanded Gyanesh Kumar's resignation over The Indian Express expose on the workings of the Election Commission.
In the wake of reports that the objections of Election Commissioners, including on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls, were being ignored, Gandhi said votes are being stolen, which renders the laws made by MPs illegal.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi on Thursday, Gandhi termed Kumar a "traitor", demanded his resignation and warned that the Congress would not remain silent and watch democracy in India "being destroyed".
Responding to The Indian Express report, the poll body had said all decisions taken by it in the last one year were unanimous and that "differing views and observations are a normal part of deliberation in any institution.
Read | "He Must Quit": Rahul Gandhi Calls Gyanesh Kumar "Deshdrohi", BJP Reacts
"The BJP also hit back at Rahul Gandhi, calling his press conference a damp squib and describing him as a "frustrated leader who is not able to win people's support through democratic means".
"Loktantra ki chor Congress is frustrated as the Gandhi-Vadra family is democratically made to sit in the opposition by the people of India," said BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari.
The Congress, meanwhile, has launched a multi-pronged attack on the CEC after the damning reports.
The Indian Youth Congress had on Thursday launched an online petition demanding the removal of Gyanesh Kumar following The Indian Express report. According to an official statement, the petition, titled "Gyanesh, It's Done Bro", also calls for Kumar's arrest and prosecution, a comprehensive investigation into the electoral process and rolls, and the public release of electoral records and internal objections of the Election Commission.
The Congress's youth wing said the campaign aims to take the issue of "electoral transparency and accountability beyond social media and mobilise citizens, especially young people, across the country".
Meanwhile, a petition has been filed in the Kolhapur Bench of the Bombay High Court against Gyanesh Kumar and the Election Commission. The petitioners have demanded that 14 "unilateral administrative orders and changes" allegedly issued by the Election Commission should be revoked with immediate effect.
The petition filed by Prathamesh Gopal Gavankar, Gaurav Suryakant Nakharekar, Aadesh Shashikant Bhatkar and Smitali Nilesh Narvekar has also demanded a halt on the ongoing SIR process in Maharashtra.
They have further demanded that the voters whose names were removed from the list during the SIR process should be reinstated. It further calls for postponement of the upcoming elections until fresh voter lists are prepared and approved.
