Venugopal predicts CEC Gyanesh Kumar will soon have to resign

All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary K.C. Venugopal has predicted that Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar will have to step down before long, The Hindu reported on 7 November.

In his view, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have made the Election Commission of India a weapon against the Congress and a means to sway elections. Separately, at a protest in Kochi called “Jantar Mantar @ Kochi”, which demanded Mr. Kumar’s resignation over what protesters called irregularities in the revision of voter rolls known as the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke also attacked the Central government.

The background

The Congress has been demanding Mr. Kumar’s resignation since September. Mr. Venugopal has accused him of a “criminal conspiracy” with the Prime Minister, and the party held a rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan on 1 November, which Mr. Venugopal called a warning to Mr. Modi and Mr. Shah. More than 700 people were detained at protests in Delhi and Mumbai. In Kerala, the Assembly has passed a resolution seeking the CEC’s removal, and Left student organisations have marched to Lok Bhavan, the Governor’s residence, in Thiruvananthapuram.

At the centre of the row is the SIR, a door-to-door re-verification of every voter, first carried out in Bihar before its 2025 Assembly election and since extended to other States. Opposition parties allege it is being used to strike genuine voters off the rolls. The Commission says it is a lawful exercise to remove the names of voters who have died, moved away or been registered twice.

Can a CEC be removed?

Only with great difficulty. Under the Constitution, a Chief Election Commissioner can be removed only in the same way as a Supreme Court judge: by a motion passed in both Houses of Parliament by a majority of each House’s membership and two-thirds of those present and voting. The ruling alliance’s numbers make that unlikely, which is why the Opposition’s campaign is aimed at forcing a resignation.