Congress leader K.C. Venugopal says Chief Election Commissioner will step down soon

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar will soon be forced to leave office, Congress leader K.C. Venugopal said on Saturday at Kozhikode Beach.

Allegations

Speaking at the 'Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao' rally, the All India Congress Committee general secretary accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah of using the Election Commission to hurt the Congress and rig election results. He pointed to the Haryana Assembly election, where the Congress lost by a margin of 0.4 percentage points despite exit predictions, and said a booth-level study led by Rahul Gandhi showed large-scale vote theft. He claimed similar cheating happened in Maharashtra and Karnataka. Mr. Venugopal also accused Mr. Kumar of past corruption during his time as Ernakulam District Collector and Public Works department Secretary in Kerala. He alleged that Mr. Kumar handled the division of Jammu and Kashmir under Mr. Shah's watch. He criticized the 2023 law change for election commissioners, saying the Modi government gave them legal protections greater than those of the President, Prime Minister, and Chief Justice of India. He noted that the government took the Chief Justice off the selection panel and put a Union Minister there instead, going against a Supreme Court ruling.

Voter List Concerns

Across the country, 13.32 crore voters have been removed from voter lists, according to Mr. Venugopal. He warned that this hurts not just voting rights, but also access to government benefits because voter cards are now tied to welfare schemes. He said protests in Delhi have shaken the Prime Minister and the Chief Election Commissioner, warning that police or military force against the protests will face a strong opposition response. The struggle is about protecting every citizen's right to vote and democratic freedom, rather than just winning elections or making Mr. Gandhi Prime Minister in 2029, he added.

Context

Electoral watchdog bodies in India oversee national and state polls to ensure fair democratic processes. Debates over how election commissioners are chosen and how voter lists are managed remain central political issues between ruling and opposition parties.