INDIA bloc holds symbolic ‘public impeachment’ of CEC Gyanesh Kumar on six charges

The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) on Saturday (October 31, 2026) carried out a symbolic “public impeachment” of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, unanimously adopting a motion by a show of hands.

They levelled six charges against him, including conspiring with the ruling BJP to steal elections, deleting 13.2 crore voters through the special intensive revision (SIR) of voter lists, and acting at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi described the exercise as a “political weapon” aimed at all those who had “colluded” to destroy the votes of the Indian people. He asserted that Mr. Kumar should not only be removed from office but also tried in a court of law for treason.

The Opposition was compelled to hold a public impeachment because “every other institution and institutional direction” was closed to it, Mr. Gandhi said in his concluding remarks, warning that those involved in alleged electoral irregularities “would not escape accountability and would eventually have to face the representatives of the people”.

Lok Sabha setting replicated

The motion was initiated by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, whose official residence at 10, Rajaji Marg, served as the venue for the proceedings. Moving the motion, Mr. Kharge levelled six charges against the CEC, alleging that he had worked under the directions of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister.

The proceedings, which continued for three-and-a-half hours, were modelled on those of Parliament, replicating the setting of the Lok Sabha, with former Speaker Meira Kumar presiding over the session.

Senior INDIA bloc leaders, including Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, occupied the front-row seats. Apart from Opposition MPs, civil society representatives, student leaders and voters who alleged that their names had been wrongfully deleted from electoral rolls during the SIR also took part in the proceedings.

‘A political weapon’

Mr. Gandhi said the gathering in the garden of Mr. Kharge’s residence was unprecedented and reflected the closure of institutional avenues available to the Opposition.

“This may look like a meeting of MPs and ordinary citizens, but it is, in fact, a political weapon aimed directly at every single person who colluded to destroy the votes of the Indian people,” Mr. Gandhi said.

“You are hiding behind the institution you have sworn to protect. Remember, you cannot hide behind it forever. One day, you will have to face the representatives of the people of this country,” he added, addressing Mr. Kumar and other officials. He claimed that the CEC will not survive in his post once the Opposition brings out all the proofs into the public domain.

‘ECI officials are first target’

In a pointed warning to officials working under the CEC, Mr. Gandhi said they could not expect legal protection to shield them indefinitely. “Mr. Modi and Mr. Shah might be on top. We will deal with them, but you are their instruments, and so you are our first target,” he said.

He cautioned officials not to underestimate the public response in a time of political change. “This is a warning to you: things are shifting. Please hear this warning and realise that this is a new political weapon sitting in the garden, and this weapon is going to hurt you very badly if you continue down your path,” he said.

Mr. Gandhi alleged that 13.3 crore votes had been deleted from electoral rolls, accounting for nearly 15% of India’s electorate, while the difference between the Opposition and the winning side in the 2024 Lok Sabha election was only three percentage points.

“13.3 crore voters were deleted. That is one in every seven Indians. 15% of India’s voters were deleted. You cannot delete 13.3 crore votes and argue that the 2024 elections were legal,” he said.

‘CEC acting at behest of PM, HM’

Earlier, moving the motion, Mr. Kharge accused the CEC of overseeing a conspiracy to manipulate elections, deleting voters’ names, changing Form 6 without parliamentary oversight, centralising electoral rolls through ERONET/ECINET, excluding the other two Election Commissioners from decision-making, and acting at the behest of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister.

“The right to vote is under threat because CEC Gyanesh Kumar is running the Election Commission on the directions of Modi and Shah,” Mr. Kharge alleged.

He said 193 Opposition MPs had submitted notices in both Houses of Parliament seeking Mr. Kumar’s removal seven months ago, but their proposals had been rejected. The present exercise, he said, was intended to defend the dignity of a constitutional institution and restore public confidence in the Election Commission.

“We have no personal enmity with the CEC. We want the Election Commission to work impartially and maintain the trust of the people in it,” he said, adding that that the law which gives lifelong immunity to the CEC should be repealed.

“We are fighting to keep genuine voters on electoral rolls. It is the BJP which is protecting ghuspaithiyas. The pot is calling the kettle black,” the Congress chief said, rejecting the BJP’s charge that the Opposition was seeking to protect so-called ‘infiltrators’ in the electoral rolls.

‘Genocide of democracy’

Trinamool Congress leader Sagarika Ghose alleged that the 2026 West Bengal Assembly election was “stolen” by deleting eligible voters from the electoral rolls, while her colleague, Mahua Moitra also claimed that 71% of those deleted from the Bengal electoral rolls were Muslims and 51% were women.   

Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP John Brittas said the SIR exercise was hollowing out universal adult franchise by forcing even elected representatives to establish their eligibility to vote. Noting that he had personally attended two hearings to establish that he was an eligible voter, he asked: “If this is the situation of an MP, a public representative, what would be the condition of the common man?”

CPI MP P. Sandosh Kumar said the country was witnessing a reversal of the democratic experiment undertaken during the first general election. “In a democracy, people elect the government. In SIR, the reverse is happening — the government is selecting the voters,” he said, describing the exercise as a “genocide of democracy”.

Independent Rajya Sabha member Kapil Sibal described Mr. Kumar as a “pawn on a chess board,” and argued that manipluting the electoral rolls electronically came under the definition of treason under criminal laws.

Other senior leaders, including former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Arvind Sawant, CPI(ML) MP Sudama Prasad, and the Samajwadi Party’s Harendra Malik, also spoke on the motion.