The Congress on Friday launched nationwide protests against the Election Commission of India (ECI), with party workers demonstrating in several states and demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Protests were reported in Delhi, Bihar, Assam, Punjab, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. In Delhi, Congress workers gathered at Jantar Mantar and raised slogans against Kumar.
The agitation comes amid the Congress’s allegations that the Election Commission’s functioning has been compromised. The party has also demanded Kumar’s resignation.
Water cannons used in Patna
In Patna, Congress workers marched towards the Election Commission office, raising slogans against Kumar and demanding his removal. Police used water cannons after protesters attempted to cross barricades and proceed towards the poll panel’s office.
The Congress said the roughly half-kilometre march was part of its nationwide campaign. Bihar Congress chief Rajesh Ram alleged that the Election Commission was “compromised” and claimed it was functioning under the direction of senior central government leaders.
The claims are political allegations and have not been established independently.
Leaders detained in Assam
In Assam, state Congress president Gaurav Gogoi and several senior party leaders were detained while attempting to cross police barricades during the protest, according to police.
The Congress had marched from its state headquarters, Rajiv Bhawan, towards the Chief Electoral Officer’s office, where it planned to burn an effigy of the CEC.
Several other Congress leaders and workers were also detained during demonstrations in different states.
In Chandigarh, Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring led party leaders, MLAs and workers in a protest in Sector 17.
In Kolkata, West Bengal Congress chief Subhankar Sarkar led party workers in a march from the College Street area towards the state chief electoral officer’s office. The protesters were stopped at B B Ganguly Street, where they burnt an effigy of Gyanesh Kumar and raised demands against him.
Similar demonstrations were reported in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
Congress targets SIR and voter rolls
The protests follow an Indian Express investigation that reported Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally objected at least 14 times over 10 months to decisions and orders they said were issued without their knowledge.
According to the report, the objections involved voter registration, deletion and restoration of names from electoral rolls, changes to statutory Form 6 and the centralised management of the electoral-roll database.
The issue has become part of the wider political debate over the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The Congress has alleged that young and Gen Z voters could be affected by the exercise and has called for Kumar’s resignation.
Election Commission says decisions were unanimous
The Election Commission has rejected the suggestion that the reported internal objections represented decisions being taken outside the authority of the full Commission.
In its response to the Indian Express report, the ECI said differing views and observations are part of institutional deliberations. It maintained that decisions taken by the Commission over the past year, including those related to electoral-roll revision and SIR, were unanimous.
The reported objections and the Commission’s response have since become a major point of political contention, with opposition parties demanding explanations over the functioning of the three-member poll panel.
The Congress’s nationwide protests are the latest escalation in the dispute over the ECI, SIR and the reported differences between the commissioners.
