Abhishek Banerjee Seeks CEC’s Removal, Court-Monitored Probe Amid ECI Row

New Delhi, September 23: Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Wednesday demanded the immediate removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and sought a court-monitored investigation into the functioning of the Election Commission of India (ECI), alleging that the electoral-roll revision process was resulting in the disenfranchisement of voters.

In a post on his WhatsApp channel, Banerjee said, “The CEC must be removed immediately and a court-monitored investigation ordered.”

He alleged that the disenfranchisement of lakhs of voters, purportedly to benefit a particular political party, “strikes at the very foundation of our democracy” and said those responsible should be held accountable.

“The Supreme Court cannot look away. The buck stops there,” Banerjee said, questioning whether the Chief Justice of India-led Bench would intervene in the matter.

His remarks came amid reports that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections on at least 14 occasions over the past 10 months regarding decisions and orders related to electoral-roll revision. The reported objections have intensified Opposition criticism of the ECI and its handling of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Opposition parties have raised concerns that the exercise could lead to the exclusion of eligible voters, while the Election Commission has maintained that decisions concerning the SIR were taken unanimously.

The issue is also before the Supreme Court, which is hearing petitions relating to various aspects of the SIR exercise. On Tuesday, the court questioned the Election Commission over notices issued to voters in Delhi on the basis of “logical discrepancies” and expressed concern over whether such notices were being issued mechanically.

In West Bengal, the SIR process has triggered a separate political and legal dispute. The Election Commission has told the Supreme Court that 27.16 lakh names were removed from the state's electoral rolls during the exercise, while more than 22 lakh of those affected subsequently filed appeals seeking reinstatement.

The Commission has attributed the deletions to categories including absentee, shifted, deceased and duplicate entries.

Banerjee also referred to concerns raised by Opposition parties following the West Bengal Assembly elections, claiming that INDIA bloc parties had written to the Chief Justice of India and other Supreme Court judges. He alleged that their concerns were neither adequately examined nor given the scrutiny they warranted.

His demand for a court-monitored probe comes as several Opposition parties have stepped up their criticism of CEC Gyanesh Kumar following the reported objections raised by the two Election Commissioners.

TMC Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’Brien has also renewed the demand for action against Kumar, recalling that more than 60 Opposition MPs had earlier moved a motion seeking his removal.

The Election Commission, meanwhile, has rejected suggestions of a split within the poll panel and maintained that the SIR exercise has been conducted under the supervision of all three Election Commissioners.

The reported internal objections have nevertheless raised fresh questions from Opposition parties over the functioning, transparency and institutional independence of the Election Commission.