Demand for the removal of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar grew on Thursday, September 24, as Opposition parties, student groups and two state governments voiced their criticism to how decisions were taken by Election Commission of India (ECI) about electoral-roll management and Special Intensive Revision (SIR) as revealed in The Indian Express reports.
“Gyanesh Kumar is the biggest anti-national of this country, and he must resign immediately,” said Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke at a news conference in New Delhi. It was the CJP’s protests at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar in July that had led to the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan as Union education minister.
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CJP gave Gyanesh Kumar 48 hours to resign. Dipke, flanked by his prime partners Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, said his organisation would begin a nationwide agitation on the lines of its June protest at Jantar Mantar unless the CEC resigns. The group also said criminal proceedings should be initiated against Kumar, upcoming elections be frozen and the electoral rolls be restored to their pre-SIR position.
Congress asked its state units to march to state election offices on September 25. It said Gyanesh Kumar should be removed and arrested. National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), the students’ wing of Congress, stage a protest in Delhi on Thursday with the same demand. It linked the protest to Rahul Gandhi’s “vote chori” allegations and warned of protests across the country.
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Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar sought a fresh SIR and Gyanesh Kumar’s removal. Keralam Chief Minister VD Satheesan stressed the need to protect the Election Commission of India’s independence. Left parties also asked for Kumar’s removal. CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas called for Kumar’s removal and said the Opposition parties plan to revive a notice submitted to the Rajya Sabha chairman seeking Kumar’s removal.
The Indian Express newspaper reported on Wednesday, September 23, that two of the three Election Commissioners had recorded objections to the poll panel’s decisions. The two commissioners—Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi—put objections on record at least 14 times in 10 months. These covered electoral-roll management and Special Intensive Revision (SIR). Singh and Joshi reportedly said major decisions were issued in the name of the full Commission without their knowledge. They called several of them “unauthorised and illegal”.
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Election Commission of India (ECI) responded to The Indian Express’s reports the same day by saying that the objections were raised at the draft stage and that every final decision was unanimous. It said its actions followed the law and the Commission’s instructions. It described the objections as operational queries and suggestions made while decisions were in draft. Quoting selected internal notes, it said, shows only “one part of the picture”. The two accounts differ on whether the Commissioners were consulted, and the newspaper’s reports do not settle this.
The ruling BJP defended ECI. It said recorded differences show that commissioners can place their views on file. It rejected the claim that this points to a breakdown in the panel.
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Supreme Court of India has separately questioned how some SIR notices were issued in Delhi. It suggested that voters be allowed to reply through WhatsApp and email. This is unrelated to the reported objections, but both keep the roll revision under scrutiny.
Gyanesh Kumar took over as CEC in February 2025. SIR has since been carried out in phases across states. Opposition parties have questioned the deletions and the verification of voter lists. Rahul Gandhi has alleged vote theft and sought accountability from the poll panel, but the latter has been rejecting these charges.
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As per the law, the CEC can be removed only in the manner of a Supreme Court judge, which needs a motion in Parliament. No such motion has been announced. CJP’s deadline ends this week, and Congress’s protests are due on Friday. ECI has not responded to the demand for Kumar’s resignation.
