New Delhi: The Congress and its INDIA bloc partners will stage a symbolic “public impeachment” of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Friday, with former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar presiding. It is meant as a curtain-raiser for a mass rally at Ramlila Maidan on Sunday. Top Congress leaders, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and K.C. Venugopal, have been meeting state leaders to get workers to turn out in large numbers.

What will happen on Friday

The programme is modelled on a parliamentary session, with opposition MPs taking seats on mock treasury and opposition benches. Meira Kumar will preside, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will move the resolution and open the debate, and Rahul Gandhi will give the closing remarks. Around 40 speakers are expected, and representatives of INDIA bloc parties will put their positions before a “chargesheet” against Kumar is presented. Congress has said 21 parties are involved. The proceeding has no legal effect, since only Parliament can act against a CEC.

Venue questions

The event was first planned at the Ashoka Hotel in Delhi. Congress said the government and police withdrew permission, and it moved the event. Delhi Police said it hadn’t withheld permission for the party’s Ramlila Maidan booking, which runs from October 25 to November 3, and that it still stands. Reports now differ on whether the mock session will be held at Ramlila Maidan or at Kharge’s residence, where INDIA bloc leaders met on Thursday to review preparations.

Sunday’s rally

The rally is scheduled from 10 am to 5 pm at Ramlila Maidan, and the Congress expects up to a million people. It is the next phase of a campaign against what the party calls “vote chori” and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Rahul Gandhi has appealed for people beyond party lines to join. The BJP has criticised the date, November 1, saying it is insensitive to Sikhs, and Delhi traders have voiced worries about festive-season disruption. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has reviewed security in the capital.

The real route to removal

Under Article 324(5), a Chief Election Commissioner can be removed only in the same manner and on the same grounds as a Supreme Court judge, for proved misbehaviour or incapacity. A notice needs 100 Lok Sabha or 50 Rajya Sabha signatures. In March, 130 Lok Sabha and 63 Rajya Sabha MPs signed notices, but the Speaker and the Rajya Sabha Chairman refused to admit them on April 6, with the Chairman saying they lacked the proof needed to constitute misbehaviour. A fresh notice signed by 73 Rajya Sabha members followed on April 24, listing nine charges. I found no report on its outcome. In its latest affidavit to the Supreme Court, the Election Commission said Kumar can only be removed like a Supreme Court judge.

The opposing positions

The Congress says Kumar has run the SIR in a partisan way and acted like a BJP spokesperson. The BJP has defended him, saying the opposition is targeting the electoral process because it has no other issues. The Election Commission says all SIR decisions were unanimous and that no change was made to Form 6.

The legal backdrop

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court asked the Commission why voters excluded from Delhi’s draft roll, about 47.57 lakh of 1.45 crore, must use Form 6, meant for first-time voters. It suggested easier ways to restore names. The Commission said it would consider an alternative form.

What to watch

Key questions are the Ramlila Maidan turnout and law-and-order arrangements, whether the opposition tries another formal notice in Parliament, and how the Supreme Court proceeds on the Commission’s decision-making.

 

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