India: Opposition Demands Resignation or Arrest of Chief Election Commissioner

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, already under attack from the opposition, has now come under attack from the opposition, with demands ranging from resignation to arrest. On Wednesday, a newspaper reported that the two commissioners had expressed their disagreement in writing on several points regarding the SIR and electoral rolls. Yet those decisions were made. Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress President and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal have not only raised serious questions about the functioning of the commission during this time, but have also demanded the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar. Arvind Kejriwal and Mamata Banerjee have also demanded his immediate arrest. Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi, in a press conference on Wednesday, accused CEC Gyanesh Kumar of hijacking the commission and suppressing internal differences. Citing a report, he said that the other two election commissioners of the Election Commission (EC) had filed written notes of disagreement on the SIR and SIR Form 6, but had ignored them.