NEW DELHI: With Rahul Gandhi terming “public impeachment” and Sunday’s Ramlila Maidan rally a “dangerous political weapon” targeting Modi-Shah-Gyanesh, the INDIA bloc, in a symbolic move, Saturday passed a “resolution” to “impeach” CEC Gyanesh Kumar accusing it of colluding with the ruling BJP to compromise national election management. It also sought that Kumar be “tried for treason”.Six “charges” of “premeditated attack on poll process” – as part of “criminal conspiracy” of BJP, PM Modi and Union minister Amit Shah – span questionable handling of poll rolls, “manipulated” SIR to delete 14 crore voters, illegal changes to Form 6 to block new voters, deletion of voters through software. CEC Kumar has also been accused of ignoring the two ECs in decision making.The “public impeachment” held in the lawns of the residence of Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge involved around 250 MPs from opposition. The venue was designed with Parliament chamber like decor, with former Speaker Meira Kumar in the high chair. LoP Rajya Sabha Kharge tabled the resolution while Rahul concluded the debate, before Meira Kumar put the resolution to vote that was passed by a voice vote. The slogan ‘vote chor gaddi chhod’ ended the assembly after three hours of debate.Setting the tone, Kharge said Modi has hatched conspiracies to retain power, which include engineering defections, splitting parties, electoral bonds, misuse of agencies, while adding the 2023 “immunity law” for the CEC is another such instrument.Underlining the need for “public impeachment”, Kharge said RS and LS rejected the opposition notices for removal of Kumar. Rahul said 15% of 2024 voters have been deleted by SIR, which means the LS polls were illegal. “I can comfortably say Kumar will not survive as CEC. We have enough proof. If BJP keeps him after we reveal what we know, then the BJP game would be clear,” he argued.Harendra Malik of SP said SIR has sought to target “PDA voters” of his party ahead of UP polls. Sagarika Ghose of TMC said 2026 Bengal polls were stolen after 29 lakh voters “vanished” under “Vanish Kumar’s SIR”. John Brittas (CPM), in a searing warning, said India should not be the Germany of 1930s, a parallel also drawn by Mamata TMC’s Mahua Moitra.
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Those who spoke were Mehbooba Mufti (PDP), Arvind Sawant (Shiv Sena), Abhay Sinha (RJD), NK Premachandran (RSP), Sandosh Kumar (CPI), Rajeev Rai (SP), Durai Vaiko (MDMK), Kapil Sibal, Jose Mani (KCM), Devarajan (FB), ET Muhammed Basheer (IUML), Sudama Prasad (CPI-ML), Nasir Aslam (NC), Thol Thirumavalavan (VCK), Baidyanath Ram (JMM). Civil society luminaries like Yogendra Yadav, Nikhil Dey, Sharukh Alam advocate, Anjali Bharadwaj, Noor Shridhar provided incisive arguments and data to put the EC in the dock. Neha Bora of AISA and NSUI volunteer Ritu Barala also spoke.