New Delhi: The Congress Monday took to the streets against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, holding protests across the country and burning his effigies amid the SIR row, and said the groundswell against him will only increase till he is removed.
Congress workers protested outside CEC Kumar’s residence in Agra and raised slogans while defacing the main gate and a wall of the house with spray paint. They put up stickers and pasted pamphlets outside his Vijay Nagar home and wrote “Gyanesh Gaddar Gyanesh Chor” — calling the CEC a “traitor” and a “thief” — in Hindi.
Police used water cannons to disperse the protesters who tried to scale barricades at many places, including Jaipur and Bhopal.
The protests came as opposition parties, which have been critical of CEC Kumar over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, called for his immediate removal after it came to light that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had recorded objections on at least 14 occasions over a 10-month period to decisions and orders, some of which they said were issued without their knowledge.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said the party will deliberate on further strategy on the issue Tuesday when its top decision-making body – the Congress Working Committee – will meet here.
“We are going to fight this seriously. This issue concerns the entire country, the existence of our democracy and the survival of our country… The Election Commission’s own people have exposed them…. he is propagating the BJP’s philosophy and has become a BJP worker,” he claimed.
The opposition INDIA bloc is also likely to meet September 30, where they will discuss their future strategy for the CEC’s ouster and sign and file another notice for his removal in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
“The Congress has protested in 1000+ districts today. Mr. Gyanesh, this is just the beginning. The groundswell will only grow from hereon. My advice to Modi-Shah, sack Gyanesh before the streets are filled with people rejecting your Vote Chori shenanigans,” AICC general secretary K C Venugopal said on X.
Delhi Congress workers gathered at the party office on Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg and tried to march to Nirvachan Sadan, but police stopped them by erecting barricades.
The Indian Youth Congress also organised a protest in Delhi and its members were stopped by the police at the IYC office from marching to the Election Commission office. Some protesters wore masks of Kumar and had their hands bound in metal chains, symbolising their claim that “the CEC was acting in BJP’s interests and the EC’s hands were tied”.
“In Agra, Congress workers blackened with soot the house of ‘Gaddar Gyanesh’. The way Modi and Shah, in collusion with Gyanesh, have looted elections across different parts of the country over the past several years is directly an act of treason against the country. We will ensure that Gyanesh is punished,” the IYC said on X.
Kumar, a 1988-batch Indian Administrative Service officer of Kerala cadre, was appointed election commissioner to the poll panel March 15, 2024, after retiring from service January 31, 2024. He assumed charge as the 26th CEC February 19 last year.
The developments come amid an intensifying confrontation between the Congress and the Election Commission over the functioning of the poll panel, including SIR, with party leader Rahul Gandhi accusing CEC Kumar of “treason” and asking him to turn an approver for “vote chori”.
“Gyanesh Kumar will go. But the system that made him do this will also have to answer,” he said in a post on X.
The Congress also held protests at several places in Punjab, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Bihar, Telangana, Karnataka, Gujarat, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Goa, among others, accusing the CEC of acting in favour of the BJP.
Congress’ Haryana unit held demonstrations and marches across the state, demanding a comprehensive review of all election-related decisions taken during Kumar’s tenure and the alleged changes made in the electoral rolls post SIR.
Senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the party’s Haryana affairs in-charge Sanjay Dutt, state party chief Rao Narender Singh, former Union minister Birender Singh, and MLAs and MPs took part in the protest, where Kumar’s effigy was burnt.
Former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, Congress’ Rajasthan in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and state party chief Govind Singh Dotasra were among senior party leaders detained by police during a protest march to the State Election Commission office in Jaipur over alleged vote theft and irregularities in SIR.
Soon after the march began at Shaheed Smarak, the protesters came across multiple layers of barricades. When they tried to push through the barricades, police used water cannons to disperse them.
Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring led a protest in Ferozepur, accusing CEC Kumar of “subverting and sabotaging” democracy in the country. The protesters also burnt effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the CEC.
Warring alleged that Kumar had “subverted and sabotaged” the electoral process and claimed that 13.8 crore voters had been “single-handedly disenfranchised” through deletion from electoral rolls.
The Congress held protests at district headquarters in Srinagar, with the party’s Rajya Sabha MP Pawan Khera leading a demonstration at the Pradesh Congress Committee headquarters.
“We will keep fighting until he resigns, because in this country, elections will not be possible if such people remain,” Khera said.
Maharashtra Congress also organised protests across the state and submitted memoranda to district collectors seeking action against Kumar.
Party workers held a dharna in Mumbai and other districts, including Pune, Kolhapur, Solapur, Nashik, Nagpur, Amravati, Thane, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Chandrapur, Nanded, Latur, Beed, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Raigad, Dharashiv, Yavatmal, Hingoli, Jalna, Parbhani, Palghar, Nandurbar, Bhandara and Akola.
Congress workers gheraoed the CEO’s office in Ranchi and held demonstrations at district headquarters across Jharkhand. They also took out a march near the Old Assembly premises here, which culminated at the CEO’s office in Dhurwa.
In Madhya Pradesh, Congress members tried to climb barricades and were involved in scuffles with police while trying to march towards the chief electoral officer’s office in Bhopal, demanding the resignation of CEC Kumar. Police used water cannons to stop the protesters from crossing barricades.
A Congress functionary later claimed that three party workers, including a woman, were injured. During the protest, a party worker wearing a mask depicting Kumar and bound in chains was brought to the spot.
