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The ongoing dispute between the Central Government, the Election Commission and the alliance of opposition parties ‘INDIA’ on the issue of resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list has now reached a decisive turn. After protesting from the Parliament House to the Election House, the opposition alliance has turned its fight directly towards the country’s top court. Under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, MPs, senior leaders and workers of more than 23 opposition parties are taking out a grand march to the Supreme Court today. The opposition clearly alleges that instead of working as an independent and impartial institution, the Election Commission is deleting the names of lakhs of eligible voters from the voter list at the behest of the ruling party. The opposition delegation will submit a detailed memorandum to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) through this march demanding immediate judicial intervention in the functioning of the Election Commission, immediate stoppage of the SIR process and removal of the Chief Election Commissioner.
The reason behind this unprecedented outrage by the opposition parties is the ‘Special Intensive Revision’ (SIR) process being run by the Election Commission and the recent changes made in the voter registration rules:
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Allegations of unilateral change in Form 6: Senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram and other opposition MPs allege that the Election Commission has arbitrarily added questions in ‘Form 6’ for registration of new voters, in which proof of parents being voters is being sought. The opposition says that this change in the rules, made without the approval of Parliament, is unconstitutional and is a conspiracy to deprive the youth and marginalized sections of the society who are voting for the first time.
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Case of deletions of lakhs of votes: INDIA Alliance claims that under the guise of SIR, legitimate votes of particular communities and opposition supporters are being disappeared from the voter lists in bulk in various states across the country.
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Allegations of unilateral decisions in the Commission: The opposition says that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar is passing arbitrary and unilateral orders bypassing other Election Commissioners, which has deeply affected the dignity and credibility of constitutional institutions.
During the continuous protests in the Parliament complex and Jantar Mantar, top opposition leaders have made sharp attacks on the Commission. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge warned that if this arbitrariness of constitutional institutions is not stopped, democracy will end in the country and totalitarian rule will prevail. At the same time, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has termed this entire episode as ‘vote theft’ and kidnapping of mandate and has directly reiterated his demand for the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Trinamool Congress, DMK and leaders of Left parties have also said in one voice that the people of the country can no longer become mute spectators and watch their right to vote being snatched away.
Parallel to the protests on the streets, this matter has already reached the threshold of the Supreme Court. During the hearing of the petitions filed against the Chief Election Commissioner in the apex court, the petitioners have alleged that the legal protection enjoyed by the Chief Election Commissioner is being misused. The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the Election Commission and the Central Government in this matter and asked them to investigate the records. Apart from this, a new petition is also pending in the court regarding the legality of the appointment process of the new Chief Election Commissioner and other commissioners in the year 2024 and violation of the rules of the search committee. The opposition is now directly reaching the Supreme Court demanding that there should be a complete ban on the controversial decisions until an impartial high-level investigation of the entire matter is conducted.
In view of this big march of INDIA alliance, Delhi Police and Central Paramilitary Forces (CRPF/RAF) have converted the Lutyens Zone of the capital into a fort.
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Barricading and security cordon: Multi-layered barricading has been done on all major routes leading to Connaught Place, Barakhamba Road, Mandi House, Jantar Mantar and the Supreme Court.
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Impact on traffic and metro: The entry and exit gates of several major stations of Delhi Metro have been partially closed or controlled to maintain law and order and control heavy crowd. Delhi Traffic Police has issued an advisory to the common citizens advising them to avoid the major roads of Central Delhi.
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Section 144 and custodial warning: Police officials have clarified that due to security reasons, no big procession or march will be allowed to proceed without permission in sensitive areas around Parliament and the Supreme Court.
This is a rare occasion in the political history of independent India when the entire opposition has come out on the streets in one voice demanding the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner. This political storm regarding the fairness of the upcoming assembly elections and general elections has put tremendous pressure on both the Central Government and the Election Commission. Now all eyes are on what stand the Supreme Court takes on this constitutional impasse and in what direction this anger on the streets takes the country’s politics in the coming days.