Meghalaya Congress burns Gyanesh Kumar effigy, demands his removal

Congress workers in Meghalaya on Friday, September 25, burnt an effigy of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in Shillong and demanded his removal and arrest amid a row over the functioning of the Election Commission and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

The protest, led by Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee president Vincent H Pala, began with a procession from Congress Bhavan and culminated near the Additional Secretariat, where party workers burnt the effigy.

Addressing the protesters, Pala alleged that Kumar had “manipulated the system” and ignored objections raised by the two other Election Commissioners over the past 10 months.

“In the last 10 months, 14 objections have been raised by the two other election commissioners, but he bulldozed all these with the help of the BJP,” Pala alleged.

Pala also alleged that the Centre had amended the law governing the appointment of Election Commissioners in a manner that enabled manipulation of the electoral process.

He further alleged irregularities in electoral rolls in Haryana, Maharashtra and West Bengal, claiming that voters had been deleted from the rolls.

“We demand that he should resign immediately. After his resignation, there should be a commission of inquiry against him. We demand that he should be arrested,” Pala said.

He said such action was necessary to restore public trust in the electoral system.

The protest comes amid scrutiny of the SIR exercise following reports that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had recorded objections on at least 14 occasions over decisions concerning electoral rolls. The Election Commission has maintained that decisions taken during the past year, including those related to SIR, were unanimous.