CHENNAI: DMK president MK Stalin on Wednesday demanded the immediate removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and a halt to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, alleging that revelations in an investigative news report have raised serious questions over the functioning and credibility of the ECI.
“Gyanesh Kumar has no right to continue in office any longer. Gyanesh Kumar must go immediately. The SIR exercise must be halted,” Stalin said on X. The former CM demanded a “fair and thorough investigation” into the developments within the Election Commission and said those responsible should be held accountable.
Stalin said the DMK and other opposition parties had consistently opposed the SIR exercise, alleging that the revision was being “rushed through” in several states ahead of elections and had resulted in the deletion of large numbers of voters. He said the revelations in the detailed news report showed that the CEC has been functioning “unilaterally and in secrecy” without the concurrence of the other two commissioners.
“Election Commission is a three-member body whose business must, as far as possible, be transacted unanimously. Where the commissioners differ in opinion, the decision must be based on the majority view,” he stated. Citing the news report, Stalin said objections raised by election commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi were ignored on 14 occasions and this had “severely eroded” the credibility of the poll panel.
The DMK chief questioned how decisions taken in the name of the commission could be considered legitimate if two of its three members were allegedly kept unaware of them. He also raised questions over the handling of electoral-roll appeals, particularly in cases where courts had directed that voters’ names be included in the rolls.
“Who authorised these appeals? Who filed them? The two election commissioners themselves say they were kept in the dark,” he added. On the digital electoral-roll management system, Stalin alleged that Electoral Registration Officers were unable to add voters who had been found eligible because of software restrictions.