Congress workers take out march in Patna, seek CEC Gyanesh Kumar's resignation

Patna, Congress workers staged a march to the poll panel's office here on Friday, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar after a newspaper report claimed disquiet within the poll panel over the special intensive revision of electoral rolls.

Police used water cannons to prevent the protesters from reaching the poll panel office.

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During the around half-kilometre march, party workers raised slogans against Kumar, demanding his resignation and claiming that the Election Commission was "compromised".

Police personnel were deployed at strength in view of the march. "To prevent them from proceeding further, police used water cannons," said a senior police officer.

Talking to reporters, Bihar Congress chief Rajesh Ram said, "It is clear that the EC is compromised. It's working on the directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Our party's stand is clear: CEC Gyanesh Kumar must resign."

The Congress has alleged that Gen Z was being targeted for exclusion and pressed for its demand that Chief Election Commissioner Kumar must resign immediately.

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It took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi by recalling that Rajiv Gandhi in 1988 reduced the minimum age for voting from 21 to 18 years, and said one PM gave Gen Z the vote, the other is determined to "snatch it away through underhand means".

This came after an Indian Express report said Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had objected on record at least 14 times over the last 10 months to decisions and orders they said were issued without their knowledge, even as the national rollout of the SIR was under the supervision of the full commission.

Their objections covered the manner in which the statutory voter registration Form 6 was amended, the handling of additions and deletions from voter lists, and centralised control over the electoral roll database, according to the report.

Under fire over the red flags raised by two of its commissioners over the SIR process, the EC has asserted that differing views and observations are a normal part of deliberations in any institution and all its orders carry full legal sanction and follow established statutory procedures.

In a statement, the poll panel also said that not only the three commissioners, but every officer of the EC is fully authorised to give suggestions to the commission to improve the electoral system. PTI