Congress stages nationwide protests demanding India’s election chief resign
India’s Congress party led protests across the country demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation and arrest over alleged electoral malpractice. Police detained demonstrators in several States and used water cannons in some cities. The Election Commission has said its final decisions on the disputed voter-roll revision were unanimous.
India’s Congress party led nationwide demonstrations on Friday demanding the resignation and arrest of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, accusing him of compromising the integrity of the electoral process. Protests were reported in Delhi and several States. Police used water cannons against demonstrators in Patna, Lucknow and Punjab, while protesters were detained in Assam, Jammu, Odisha, Manipur and elsewhere.
In Imphal, police fired several tear-gas shells to disperse demonstrators. Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal said the protests would continue until Kumar left office.
He alleged that the government was using the election commissioner to overcome public opposition through manipulation, and called for decisions connected to the special intensive revision of electoral rolls to be revoked. The party has centred its campaign on allegations that voter-list changes could exclude legitimate voters. Congress leaders have also alleged that a “Mark VIP” feature was created in the application used by booth-level officers.
In New Delhi, civil society activists and opposition groups joined demonstrations at Jantar Mantar and near the Election Commission headquarters. Delhi Police said 50 to 60 people were detained at Jantar Mantar, about 10 at a Students’ Federation of India protest and around 25 at a Congress demonstration. Police said organisers had not obtained permission.
Protests in other cities were also disrupted. Congress workers were stopped in Patna and Lucknow, while Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi and other leaders were detained during an attempted march. In Kolkata, the All India Democratic Women’s Association submitted a memorandum calling for Kumar’s resignation.
The demonstrations followed opposition leader Rahul Gandhi’s press conference on Thursday. A news report had said two other election commissioners repeatedly objected over 10 months to decisions on electoral rolls. The Election Commission has not denied that objections were made, but has said all final decisions were unanimous.
This independently written report is based on information supplied by the named publisher. Vertrix News has not independently verified the source report.