Daijiworld Media Network – New Delhi
New Delhi, Sep 24: Trinamool Congress (TMC) Member of Parliament Mahua Moitra on Thursday filed a police complaint against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar at the Parliament Street Police Station in New Delhi, alleging procedural violations, unilateral decision-making and irregularities in the handling of electoral rolls.
The complaint comes amid a growing political controversy over reported differences within the three-member Election Commission of India (ECI) concerning the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. A recent report by _The Indian Express_ said Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had recorded objections on at least 14 occasions over a period of about 10 months regarding decisions and orders connected with the electoral-roll revision exercise.
Speaking to reporters after submitting her complaint, Moitra alleged that important decisions were taken and communicated without the consent of the other two Election Commissioners. She argued that decisions purportedly issued in the name of the Election Commission could not be treated as collective decisions if they had not received the required institutional approval.
Moitra also questioned the statutory immunity available to the CEC and Election Commissioners under Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023. She argued that such protection should not apply to actions that, according to her allegation, were taken without the consent of the other members of the Commission.
A major part of Moitra's allegations relates to the electoral-roll database and the role of ground-level election officials. She alleged that officials such as Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and Booth Level Officers (BLOs) were bypassed through centralised control of the Election Commission's information-technology system.
She further alleged that changes were made to Form 6, the statutory form used for registration of new voters, without following the procedure required for amending the relevant rules. According to Moitra, a question concerning whether an applicant or the applicant's parents or grandparents were linked to the SIR was introduced into the process. She claimed that the two other Election Commissioners had objected to the change.
Moitra also alleged that the manner in which voter names were added or removed from electoral rolls resulted in genuine voters being excluded. She specifically raised allegations concerning West Bengal, claiming that around 33 lakh voters were kept out of the electoral roll through appellate proceedings whose institutional authorisation she questioned. These allegations remain claims made by Moitra and have not been established as findings of a court or other competent authority.
The Election Commission, however, has rejected the suggestion that its decisions were taken unilaterally by the CEC. The poll panel has said that individual opinions, objections and observations during internal deliberations do not themselves constitute decisions of the Commission.
According to the ECI's response, differences of opinion are part of institutional deliberation and all final decisions of the Commission, including those concerning the SIR exercise, were taken unanimously with the approval of all three Election Commissioners.
The controversy intensified after reports that Sandhu and Joshi had raised objections concerning voter deletions, changes to Form 6 and the handling and accessibility of the electoral-roll database. The reported objections have since triggered demands from several Opposition parties for action against Kumar.
Former Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal has demanded Kumar's arrest and prosecution and has called for the SIR exercise to be scrapped. He has also demanded that elections held in recent years be cancelled and fresh elections conducted, a political demand that has not been accepted by the Election Commission.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has demanded action against Kumar and called for fresh Assembly elections in West Bengal using the electoral roll that existed before the SIR exercise. Other Opposition leaders, including Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, have sought judicial intervention and action over the reported differences within the Election Commission.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has also intensified his criticism of the Election Commission over what he describes as "vote chori", while the BJP has defended the functioning of the poll panel. BJP leaders have characterised differences between Election Commissioners as part of normal institutional deliberation rather than evidence of a breakdown in the Commission's functioning. The Times of India
As of Thursday, the police complaint filed by Moitra does not by itself establish criminal wrongdoing by the CEC, and reports said police had not yet registered an FIR on the complaint. The competing allegations concerning the ECI's decision-making, electoral-roll procedures and the scope of statutory immunity remain matters of political and legal dispute. India Today
The controversy is likely to remain under scrutiny as Opposition parties pursue demands for Kumar's removal and possible proceedings in Parliament, while the Election Commission maintains that its final decisions were collectively and unanimously approved.
The headline can also be tightened further for a more typical Daijiworld breaking-news treatment, such as “Mahua Moitra files police complaint against CEC Gyanesh Kumar”.