CEC Gyanesh Kumar should resign to protect his dignity, says CPI(M) national general secretary
CPI(M) leader M.A. Baby has called for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging that the Special Intensive Revision of voter rolls is being used to disenfranchise marginalized communities. He also advocated for a return to paper ballots or 100% VVPAT verification to ensure electoral integrity.
Why it matters
The questioning of election commission impartiality and voting technology is a central theme in opposition critiques of the current democratic process.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) national general secretary M.A. Baby on Monday said Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar should resign immediately to protect his self-respect, and warned that clinging to office would be detrimental to him as well as his “bosses”.
Mr. Baby said Mr. Kumar should have already resigned against the backdrop of widespread agitations by Left parties and their frontal organisations, including the Students’ Federation of India and the Democratic Youth Federation of India, as well as other parties and organisations.
In an exclusive interview with The Hindu , Mr. Baby alleged that Mr. Kumar had taken away the voting rights of 13 crore people under the guise of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), which, he alleged, was aimed at deleting the names of people belonging to sections such as minorities, Dalits, Adivasis and other marginalised communities from electoral rolls.
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