Chandigarh: The Punjab government on Friday tabled an official resolution moved by finance minister Harpal Cheema, calling for an independent inquiry against chief election commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and the administrative decisions governing recent voter registration updates.
Presenting the motion, Cheema accused the BJP of snatching citizens’ right to vote. “In Delhi, the BJP came to power last year through vote chori (theft),” Cheema alleged during his address on the assembly floor.
According to the resolution, the House expressed concern over incidents of citizens allegedly being deprived of their right to vote, demanding that constitutional protections for the voting rights of all eligible citizens be ensured. It calls for the establishment of an independent, impartial, and credible investigative mechanism to inquire into alleged irregularities concerning the electoral process and voter lists under the leadership of CEC Gyanesh Kumar, aimed at bringing the truth to light and fixing administrative accountability.
The resolution seeks a non-partisan judicial investigation to determine whether procedural violations, administrative changes, or unauthorised deletions compromised voting ahead of the 2027 assembly elections.
Central to the motion are serious allegations surrounding the Election Commission of India’s special intensive revision (SIR) exercise. Official figures published following the SIR drive reveal that over 13.6 lakh names were removed from Punjab’s final electoral roll, reducing the state’s total electorate from 2.14 crore down to roughly 2.01 crore voters.
While the Election Commission maintains that these removals were conducted transparently to purge duplicate records, deceased individuals, and permanently relocated citizens, the resolution highlights persistent claims that eligible citizens were systematically excluded without adequate verification. Critics also cite contentious additions to Form 6 registration processes and disputed voter notices on the ECINET portal as key indicators of central overreach and procedural bias.
Prior to the legislative action, street demonstrations were held in Chandigarh on October 10, during which senior AAP leaders—including Cheema and former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia—were detained by police while demanding the CEC’s removal and an immediate halt to SIR operations. The opposition Congress in the state has also staged separate protests, demanding a return to pre-revision voter lists.
Punjab’s resolution follows similar action in Kerala, where lawmakers passed a motion challenging the constitutional validity of the Election Commission leadership’s voter revision methods.