Chennai: DMK president M.K. Stalin has called for the immediate removal of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, citing concerns over the ongoing special intensive revision of electoral rolls.
In a statement, Stalin said opposition parties, including the DMK, have strongly objected to the decision that could lead to the deletion of names of crores of people from the voter list.
He alleged that the CEC acted unilaterally and in secrecy, without securing the consent of the other two Election Commissioners. Stalin claimed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi were kept in the dark about developments within the Commission.
According to Stalin, the two commissioners raised objections 14 times over the past 10 months about decisions being taken without their knowledge, but were ignored—an approach he said has severely damaged the credibility of the Election Commission.
Stalin argued that decisions in the Election Commission must be taken by consensus, and if that is not possible, by majority. He said the reported sidelining of two out of three commissioners cannot be treated as routine, and reiterated his demand that Gyanesh Kumar be removed from the post immediately.
