New Delhi [India], October 6 (ANI): Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Saugata Roy launched a sharp attack on Tuesday, demanding the immediate removal of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and the rollback of electoral list revisions.
As opposition converged for coordinated demonstrations and protest marches over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) row, Roy asserted that the poll panel's leadership had severely compromised institutional integrity
"We want Gyanesh Kumar to be removed. We want the SIR process to be cancelled," Saugata Roy told ANI.
TMC MP further argued that counter-statements from the ruling party carried little credibility given the scale of voter list disputes.
He said, "What BJP is saying really doesn't matter. They are the ruling party, and they will naturally try to defend Gyanesh Kumar, who has played havoc with the voters' list and the SIR..."
Speaking to ANI amid coordinated opposition demonstrations targeting the poll panel's headquarters, ongress MP Syed Nasir Hussain asserted that accountability must be fixed for what he termed a systemic conspiracy against the democratic franchise.
"Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar should go. SIR should be scrapped. All the deleted votes should be put back into the voters' list. A high-level inquiry should be conducted to find out the forces behind this conspiracy and to be exposed," Nasir Hussain said.
On Tuesday, high drama unfolded in the national capital as opposition INDIA bloc MPs, including Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, climbed atop heavy iron barriers near the NITI Aayog office, waving the tricolour while marching towards the Election Commission of India (ECI) headquarters.
Samajwadi Party MP Zia-ur-Rehman Barq, along with his fellow MPs, were also seen atop the barricades as Delhi Police personnel attempted to halt the advancing march along the high-security corridor en route to Nirvachan Sadan.
Raising slogans demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and CEC Gyanesh Kumar, the INDIA bloc leaders and supporters took to the streets of the national capital as their march towards the Election Commission began.
The INDIA bloc MPs later sat in protest near the NITI Aayog office. Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi and NCP-SP MP Supriya Sule, along with several other INDIA bloc MPs, took part in the protest march.
Taking a jibe at the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, in a post on X, said, “Gyanesh, it’s done, bro. Time to resign.”
Earlier, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that the government was stripping people of their rights and accused the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of acting at its behest during the INDIA bloc march against CEC Gyanesh Kumar.
"Look, we are fighting against the injustice of the fact that the government is stripping away everything—all the rights of the people. And today, the universal adult franchise that we received after Independence—this government is working to finish it off," Kharge said.
The march comes amid the Opposition's sustained campaign against alleged discrepancies in electoral rolls and its demand for greater transparency from the poll panel.
Leaders of several INDIA bloc parties have participated in the march and raised their concerns before the Election Commission (EC). The protest is part of a broader "Save Democracy" campaign announced by the Opposition, under which its leaders have been holding demonstrations and public programmes against the EC.
The march to Nirvachan Sadan is expected to further intensify the political confrontation between the Opposition and the poll panel over electoral roll-related issues. (ANI)
"BJP will defend Gyanesh Kumar": TMC MP Saugata Roy demands CEC's removal, cancellation of SIR process amid opposition protest march
