The Communist Party of India (Marxist) continued its campaign for the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, as opposition parties and youth and student organisations intensified protests against the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
CPI(M) continues campaign for Gyanesh Kumar’s removal
The CPI(M)'s position remains that Kumar should resign or be removed and that the SIR exercise should be halted. The party argues that the controversy over voter-list revisions and reported disagreements within the Election Commission have undermined confidence in the commission's independence.
On October 5, CPI(M) Central Committee member and former Kerala Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac welcomed the decision by Kerala's Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau to reopen an investigation concerning alleged irregularities linked to Kumar's period as Kerala PWD secretary. Isaac described the investigation as overdue and said the circumstances surrounding the earlier case and the death of a Malaysian national warranted renewed scrutiny. The investigation relates to events from around 2006 and is separate from the current dispute over the Election Commission and SIR.
On October 6, Isaac again publicly demanded Kumar's removal. Speaking amid the opposition mobilisation in Delhi, he said that Kumar could not continue as CEC and that there was “no going back” on the demand for his removal. Isaac also emphasised that the campaign had expanded beyond political parties, with MPs, youth and student organisations participating in demonstrations.
The October 6 mobilisation was particularly significant because INDIA bloc MPs marched from Parliament towards the Election Commission headquarters in New Delhi, demanding Kumar's resignation. Police stopped the march before it reached the ECI and the MPs staged a sit-in; Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and other opposition leaders participated, with several subsequently detained.
CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and Lok Sabha MP Amra Ram, Lok Sabha MPs R Sachithanantham and Su Venkatesan, and Rajya Sabha MPs John Brittas, V Sivadasan and AA Rahim were among those detained by the Delhi Police while marching along with INDIA Bloc MPs from Parliament to the ECI office.
The CPI(M)'s campaign is also connected to the activities of Left youth and student organisations. Five Left student organisations announced on October 6 that they would jointly hold a demonstration at Jantar Mantar on October 10, demanding Kumar's resignation and the scrapping of SIR. They also raised allegations of police harassment and excessive force against protesters and journalists during the preceding demonstrations.
Delhi Police attacked on artists of the Jana Natya Manch and Dastak and SFI [CPI(M) linked Students' Federation of India] activists! Women activists who were peacefully performing songs and raising their voices for electoral accountability at Connaught Place were brutally manhandled by the police and forcefully removed, with many of them suffering injuries. Amid the police action, activists were attacked by RSS (fascist organisation linked with the ruling BJP) goons and the police refused to intervene. At least 15 SFI activists, including SFI President Adarsh M Saji and Delhi State Secretary Sooraj Elamon, were detained by the police and taken to undisclosed locations.
(Photo: PTI)