New Delhi, Nov 2026: Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Saturday launched a sharp attack on Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, accusing him of colluding with the ruling establishment to undermine voters' rights and demanding that he be tried for treason.
Addressing the INDIA bloc's symbolic 'public impeachment' proceedings against Kumar in New Delhi, Gandhi described the gathering as an “extremely dangerous political weapon” against those allegedly involved in electoral manipulation and the deletion of voters' names from electoral rolls.
He warned Kumar and others in the Narendra Modi government whom he accused of involvement in 'vote chori' that the Opposition would neither forgive nor forget what he described as an attack on the democratic rights of citizens.
“I fully support the motion to impeach Gyanesh Kumar, who should be tried for treason in a court of law and justice should be served,” Gandhi said in his concluding remarks.
The proceedings were organised at the residence of Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, a day before the INDIA bloc's planned mega rally at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan. Gandhi questioned why opposition leaders had to assemble at a private residence rather than an institutional venue to discuss the removal of the country's top election official.
He said around 250 Opposition MPs, civil society representatives and mediapersons had gathered in the garden because they had no access to other institutions.
“The reason we are standing here is that we have nowhere else to go. We have no other option. Every single institution is closed for us,” he alleged.
Gandhi said it was unprecedented for the entire Opposition to gather in a garden to discuss the removal of a Chief Election Commissioner. He described the proceedings as a collective effort to hold the Election Commission accountable for alleged electoral irregularities.
The event was attended by Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress general secretaries Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Jairam Ramesh and K C Venugopal, besides senior leaders from other parties. Representatives of at least 18 opposition parties and Independent Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal also participated.
Former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar presided over the proceedings, while Kharge moved the resolution setting out the Opposition's allegations against the CEC. After nearly three hours of speeches and deliberations, the resolution seeking Kumar's removal was adopted unanimously through a show of hands.
Gandhi claimed that the Opposition had sufficient evidence against the CEC and asserted that he should not be allowed to continue in office.
“We have enough evidence to ensure that this gentleman does not continue in office. If the BJP insists on retaining him even after we reveal what we know, then its game will be clear for everyone to see,” he said.
Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Kumar, Gandhi alleged that they were working together to undermine the votes of Indian citizens. He accused those responsible of using the constitutional institution they had sworn to protect as a shield against accountability.
“This is not just some talk taking place in a garden; this is a political weapon that is going to give justice to the people of India,” he said.
A major part of Gandhi's address focused on the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. He claimed that 13.3 crore voters had been deleted from electoral rolls, amounting to approximately 15 per cent of the electorate, or one in every seven Indians.
Linking the alleged deletions to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Gandhi pointed out that the difference in vote share between the Opposition and the winning side was around three percentage points. He argued that the scale of the alleged deletions raised questions about the credibility of the electoral process.
The Congress leader said the Election Commission's position effectively suggested that a substantial number of people who had voted in the previous general election were not eligible to remain on the rolls.
“You cannot delete 13.3 crore voters and then argue that the 2024 elections were legal,” he said.
Gandhi accused the CEC of undermining the democratic foundations of the country and warned that constitutional immunity or political protection should not prevent those responsible for alleged electoral wrongdoing from being held accountable.
He further alleged that the misuse of constitutional institutions and electoral manipulation could continue only temporarily. Gandhi said the Opposition, young protesters and ordinary citizens would continue to fight to protect democratic rights.
“This is a warning to you – things are shifting. This is a new political weapon sitting in the garden, and it is going to hurt you very badly if you continue going down your path,” he said.
The Congress leader maintained that the Opposition's campaign was not driven by personal hostility towards the CEC but by its stated commitment to defending the Constitution and protecting the people's right to vote.
The symbolic public impeachment was organised as part of the INDIA bloc's wider campaign against alleged 'vote chori' and irregularities in the SIR exercise. The proceedings, however, did not constitute a formal constitutional impeachment process and had no legal power to remove the Chief Election Commissioner.
The Opposition has been demanding Kumar's resignation and seeking accountability from the Election Commission over alleged large-scale deletion of voters' names.
The campaign is expected to gain further political momentum with the INDIA bloc's November 1 rally at Ramlila Maidan, where opposition leaders are set to raise concerns over electoral roll revision and demand safeguards for voters' rights.
(Disclaimer :The content of this article is sourced from a news agency and has not been edited by the Mavericknews30 team.)
