Oppn holds 'public impeachment' of poll panel chief; 'drama' says BJP
New Delhi, Nov. 1 -- Nineteen opposition parties on Saturday staged a mock-Parliament "impeachment" of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's residence, adopting a resolution at 7.05pm that holds him responsible for "a manipulated, truncated and destructive" special intensive revision of electoral rolls and demands his immediate removal and a trial for treason. More than 250 opposition lawmakers attended the 3.5-hour session, the first time such an exercise has been used against a constitutional post-holder.
The five-point resolution also accuses Kumar of amending Form 6, centralising control over electoral rolls and excluding the other two Election Commissioners from decision-making. Rahul Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, said: "Gyanesh Kumar won't survive as CEC. Today or tomorrow, you will face the representatives of people of India."
Kharge said the motion sought to safeguard the Election Commission's impartiality. "We hold no personal animosity toward the CEC," he said. Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju hit back: "One family party with outside forces is trying to destroy the Constitution & Indian Democracy." BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra earlier described the exercise as "drama the Congress party is staging". P6...
To read the full article or to get the complete feed from this publication, please
Contact Us.