Assam Jatiya Parishad seeks removal of CEC Gyanesh Kumar, urges President to order probe

The Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) on September 25 demanded the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and urged President Droupadi Murmu to order an impartial inquiry into his tenure and decisions.

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters in Guwahati, AJP general secretary Jagadish Bhuyan alleged that Kumar had failed to maintain the neutrality expected of the head of an independent constitutional institution. He further alleged that Kumar had acted more like a BJP spokesperson than the head of the Election Commission of India.

Bhuyan also raised questions over the Election Commission's collective decision-making process, alleging that the views of the other two Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, were not given adequate consideration in several key matters.

The AJP's demand comes a day after The Indian Express reported that Sandhu and Joshi had formally raised objections at least 14 times over a 10-month period to decisions concerning the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and electoral-roll processes. The report said the objections included issues relating to voter registration, deletions, electoral-roll data and software-related matters.

The Election Commission has said that decisions relating to the SIR were taken as part of the Commission's decision-making process, while the report has triggered criticism from opposition parties and other political groups.

Bhuyan said the matter should not remain limited to political allegations and counter-allegations and called for an impartial investigation.

"Public confidence in the EC is one of the fundamental pillars of democracy. Whenever questions are raised about the Commission's decisions and functioning, it must be answered transparently and based on facts," he said.

The AJP also questioned the credibility of previous election results, including the Assam Assembly polls, with Bhuyan alleging that they did not represent the "spontaneous verdict of the people".

"The previous election results were not the spontaneous verdict of the people; they were the verdict of EVMs and the Election Commission," he alleged.

The party further alleged that the outcome of the previous elections was the result of a conspiracy favouring the BJP, and criticised the BJP for defending the CEC.

The AJP demanded that Kumar be removed from the post immediately and that his tenure and decisions be subjected to an independent investigation.

The party also urged the President to intervene, saying a transparent examination of the allegations was necessary to address concerns over the independence and neutrality of the electoral process.