New Delhi [India], October 5 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Monday refused to pass any interim order to suspend the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over allegations that he took decisions unilaterally in the Election Commission of India, without consensus from the two other Election Commissioners.
A bench headed by CJI Surya Kant issued notice to the Election Commission of India seeking their response on the allegations made in the plea.
The Court indicated that if, after considering the ECIs response, it finds that certain decisions were taken by CEC without the required unanimity, it could reconsider or recall those decisions.
“After notice, if they come and show that ABC decisions were taken without unanimity, we will take those decisions back” it said.
The court was hearing pleas against Election Commission of India concerning the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. A plea challenged the manner in which the ECI is functioning, alleging that powers vested in the poll panel as a multi-member constitutional body are being exercised without following the collective decision-making mechanism mandated by law.
Earlier today, following Supreme Court judge Justice Ujjal Bhuyan’s views on what he said was the arbitrary disenfranchisement of voters, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Monday demanded the immediate resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, alleging that the SC judge had exposed the poll chief “lock, stock and barrel.
“The Congress leader claimed that the CEC has become a “liability for the country” and alleged that he was executing “illegal orders.”In a post on social media platform X, Ramesh wrote.
“Here is the bold Justice Ujjal Bhuyan speaking yesterday in NALSAR University in Hyderabad where he exposed the CEC lock, stock and barrel. If he has any sense of shame Gyanesh Kumar must quit right away. His ability to execute G2’s illegal orders have now made him a liability for the country.”
In a post on social media platform X, Ramesh wrote, “Here is the bold Justice Ujjal Bhuyan speaking yesterday in NALSAR University in Hyderabad where he exposed the CEC lock, stock and barrel. If he has any sense of shame Gyanesh Kumar must quit right away. His ability to execute G2’s illegal orders have now made him a liability for the country.”
Ramesh’s sharp reaction comes in the backdrop of Justice Bhuyan’s address on Sunday at the valedictory ceremony of the 19th NALSAR BRS Moot Court Competition in Hyderabad, where the apex court judge said that any procedure that leads to the disenfranchisement of millions of citizens and turning individuals into “second-class citizens” without voting rights is “intrinsically arbitrary”.
“If any process results in disenfranchising millions and millions of Indian citizens, making them second-class citizens in their own country in the sense of being citizens without voting rights, such a process is intrinsically arbitrary. No amount of whataboutery can justify it. It strikes at the very heart of the Constitution,” Justice Bhuyan had stated.
The remarks come in the background of the ongoing controversy over the Election Commission of India (ECI) and Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, with opposition targeting Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and demanding his resignation.
Sunday also saw the Indian Youth Congress’ protest march from Raisina Road towards Jantar Mantar against Gyanesh Kumar, accusing the Central government of shielding him and demanding his immediate resignation.
The march was led by IYC National President Uday Bhanu Chib, with hundreds of youth workers carrying placards and raising slogans against the government amidst heavy police deployment and barricading along the route.
Speaking to ANI, Chib criticised the Delhi Police for stopping the demonstrators from marching towards the designated protest site.
“The question is that we are going to Jantar Mantar. Even the Supreme Court said that if you want to protest peacefully, you have to go to Jantar Mantar. But we are not being allowed because Modi and Shah have to save Gyanesh. This traitor of the country, Gyanesh, cannot be saved. We will go towards Jantar Mantar. No one’s father owns Jantar Mantar. If they try to stop us here, we will sit down right there. They are scared; their theft has been caught. For the last year and a half, Rahul Gandhi has been exposing these thieves’ thievery to the country, and now more evidence is coming out,” Chib asserted.
The controversy follows a report in The Indian Express saying Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi formally raised objections on at least 14 occasions over 10 months over decisions on electoral rolls, voter registration, and the Commission’s technology systems.
The Election Commission, however, rejected the suggestion that the reported objections amounted to institutional dissent over final decisions. The poll panel said that operational queries, inputs and suggestions raised during the draft stage were part of its standard administrative and decision-making process. ECI stated that the decisions regarding the schedule of the SIR exercise were unanimous. (ANI)
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