Water Cannons, Detentions Mark Congress Protests Against CEC Gyanesh Kumar

The Congress on Friday stepped up its campaign against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, holding protests across several states and demanding his resignation over.

The controversy surrounding the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Demonstrations were reported in Delhi, Patna, Guwahati, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Jammu, Punjab, Arunachal Pradesh and other parts of the country as Congress workers sought action against the CEC.

In Delhi, Congress workers attempted to march towards the Election Commission office, breaking through barricades as police moved to stop them. Several protesters were detained during the confrontation. The Indian Youth Congress also staged a separate demonstration, with protesters wearing masks bearing Kumar’s face and some appearing with chains around their hands.

In Assam, state Congress president Gaurav Gogoi and several party workers were detained during the protest in Guwahati. In Patna and Chandigarh, police used water cannons to disperse demonstrators.

The protests followed a report by The Indian Express that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections on at least 14 occasions over 10 months to various decisions and orders concerning the electoral-roll revision. The reported concerns included changes to voter registration Form 6, the addition and deletion of names from electoral rolls and access to the centralised electoral-roll database.

The Election Commission has rejected the suggestion that the reported objections indicate a breakdown within the poll panel. It said differing views, written observations and technical suggestions are a normal part of deliberations in a multi-member institution and maintained that final decisions taken by the Commission were unanimous and in accordance with the law.

The poll body also said that every EC officer is authorised to offer suggestions aimed at improving the electoral system and argued that focusing on selected internal notes presents only part of the decision-making process.

The issue has since become a major political flashpoint, with the Congress and other Opposition parties escalating their demands for action against Kumar.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, speaking at a press conference in New Delhi on Thursday, called Kumar a “traitor”, demanded his resignation and said his party would continue to oppose what he described as attempts to undermine India’s democratic process.

Friday’s nationwide demonstrations marked a further escalation of the confrontation between the Congress and the Election Commission over the SIR exercise and the reported differences within the poll panel.