CEC Gyanesh Kumar Faces Calls for Resignation Amid Electoral Roll Controversy

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar is currently facing intensifying calls for his resignation as political opposition mounts over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The controversy has sparked a series of protests in the national capital, with prominent opposition figures, including Congress MPs Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, actively participating in campaigns against the Commission’s recent exercise.The push for his removal gained significant momentum following an investigation published last month, which alleged an internal rift within the poll body. The report suggested that fellow Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised at least 14 written objections over a ten-month period concerning the Commission’s decision-making processes and the management of electoral rolls. In response to these claims, the Election Commission has maintained that all its decisions have been unanimous and that its digital systems are governed by stringent security protocols.The situation escalated earlier this week when members of the INDIA bloc marched toward the Supreme Court to file a formal petition. The legal challenge seeks a time-bound, independent audit of voter deletions and changes made to the database. Furthermore, the petition requests the suspension of the current revision exercise while the matter is under judicial consideration, alongside a demand for safeguards to ensure that no electors are removed from the rolls without proper notice and an opportunity to be heard.Alongside the INDIA bloc’s legal action, other political groups have joined the dissent. The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has publicly demanded Mr. Kumar’s resignation, leading to a planned protest at Jantar Mantar on 10 October. Authorities reported that several leaders from the party were detained by police ahead of the demonstration.Gyanesh Kumar, who assumed office as India’s 26th Chief Election Commissioner in February 2025, possesses an extensive background in public administration. A 1988-batch IAS officer of the Kerala cadre, he earned a BTech in Civil Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and later pursued postgraduate studies in Environmental Economics at Harvard University, as well as Business Finance at the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India.His career before joining the Election Commission was marked by senior roles in both state and central government. At the Centre, he served as a Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Defence, an Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, and Secretary in the ministries of Parliamentary Affairs and Cooperation. During his time in the Home Ministry, he oversaw the Kashmir Division during the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019 and led a desk dedicated to matters stemming from the Supreme Court’s Ayodhya verdict, including the formation of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra trust.As the legal battle moves to the Supreme Court, the core of the dispute remains the integrity of the electoral rolls and the internal operations of the commission. While the Election Commission continues to defend its procedural consistency, the opposition’s persistence suggests that the demand for accountability regarding the voter database will remain a central point of contention in the coming weeks.