India
oi-Gaurav Sharma
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar finds himself at the heart of a brewing political imbroglio as Opposition parties and protestors demand his resignation while the West Bengal BJP lauds his performance.
While Congress and others have staged protests seeking his recall, questioning the very credibility of the Election Commission’s conduct of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, the West Bengal BJP has been holding up his conduct of West Bengal Assembly elections as exemplary.
Opposition parties demand CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation citing alleged bias and electoral roll revision issues, while the West Bengal BJP praises his conduct during state elections and defends the revision process amid internal Election Commission dissent.
Congress and other Opposition parties have been staging protests across the States on September 25 demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The Cockroach Janta Party has even given him 48 hours to tender his resignation, threatening to launch a nation-wide agitation if he refused to step down.
However, West Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya has been voicing out his dissent with the Opposition narrative on Friday, saying that Kumar was “entitled to get at least Padma Bhushan (third highest civilian award).”
Bhattacharya said that the conduct of the West Bengal Assembly elections by the Election Commission was “praiseworthy” and voters “were able to cast their votes in a manner not possible in earlier elections when there was intimidation and violence.” He further asserted that the revision of electoral rolls in West Bengal, conducted under the aegis of Kumar, was an “admirable act.”
The West Bengal BJP president added that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls helped wean out “ghost voters and Bangladeshi voters” – allegations not proved in any court of law but used by BJP to trumpet the virtues of SIR, which the Election Commission has been facing a severe backlash for initiating.
The controversy assumes greater dimensions as the Election Commission comes under attack for alleged bias in conducting polls. According to a report in The Indian Express, Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had filed “numerous observations” in the minutes of the meetings of the Commission “against various decisions taken by the Election Commission.” The report further says that the Election Commission finds itself in the cross hairs as Opposition parties use the report to demand resignation of Kumar.
While the Election Commission has been at the receiving end of harsh criticism, the West Bengal BJP has been defending the very institution, with Samik Bhattacharya saying that the “dissent” within the Election Commission showed that “different views were expressed” when differences arose. BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said “during the deliberations within the Election Commission, diverse opinions were expressed.”
