The Congress on Sunday cited reported remarks by Supreme Court judge Justice Ujjal Bhuyan on the right to vote, claiming that his observations conclusively establish that Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar has violated the Constitution “both in letter and spirit”.
The opposition party said Justice Bhuyan’s remarks had exposed Kumar “lock, stock and barrel” and claimed that he had lost all moral right to continue in office.
Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh shared a media report quoting Justice Bhuyan as saying that if any process resulted in the disenfranchisement of millions of Indian citizens, rendering them “second-class citizens in their own country” and depriving them of their voting rights, such a process was intrinsically arbitrary.
“Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, a sitting judge of the Supreme Court, has been an outspoken champion of environmental protection,” Ramesh said in a post on X.
“Now the courageous jurist has forcefully expressed his view that the right to vote is very much part of the basic structure of the Constitution,” the Congress leader said. “This conclusively proves that the CEC — a constitutional functionary himself — has violated the Constitution itself, both in letter and spirit.”
“Justice Bhuyan has said much more and has exposed the CEC lock, stock and barrel. Gyanesh Kumar has simply lost all moral right to continue in office,” Ramesh said.
The Congress leader’s attack on the CEC comes days after The Indian Express reported that Election Commissioners Sandhu and Joshi had objected on record at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders concerning the Special Intensive Revision process, which they said had been issued without their knowledge or recommendation.
Facing questions over the red flags raised by the two commissioners, the Election Commission has maintained that differing views and observations are part of deliberations in any institution, and that all its orders carry full legal sanction and follow established statutory procedures.
(With inputs from PTI)
