Opposition Parties Demand CEC Removal and Supreme Court Probe Following Election Commission Internal Divide

Opposition parties have trained their attacks specifically on Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and called for a Supreme Court-monitored investigation following reports of an internal divide within the Election Commission of India. A recent investigation revealed that two of the three Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, objected on the record at least 14 times over 10 months to decisions made without their knowledge, changes to voter registration forms, voter deletions and restorations, and centralization of the voter database. Leaders from the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, DMK, and other parties held coordinated press conferences to demand Kumar's removal, a court-supervised probe into the poll body, and a halt to the ongoing SIR exercise. Congress leader K.C. Venugopal demanded an immediate removal of the CEC, while P. Chidambaram suggested a parliamentary committee review of past EC decisions. Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav asked the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognizance of the matter in Lucknow, and in Kolkata, TMC's Abhishek Banerjee urged the CJI-led Bench to act on institutional impartiality. In Chennai, DMK chief M.K. Stalin called for a fair investigation and accountability. Opposition leaders also highlighted a June letter signed by 23 parties to Chief Justice Surya Kant alleging partisan conduct, alongside a parliamentary removal notice moved in April in the Rajya Sabha that remains pending. Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also condemned the alleged electoral manipulation. Additionally, leaders including Arvind Kejriwal, Mamata Banerjee, and Uddhav Thackeray demanded the arrest of the CEC, while Kapil Sibal called for his suspension, an FIR, and the nullification of decisions made without majority commission agreement.