TMC revives impeachment push against CEC Gyanesh Kumar after report of internal dissent
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "TMC revives impeachment push against CEC Gyanesh Kumar after report of internal dissent")
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar Photograph: (ANI)
The Trinamool Congress revived an impeachment motion against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar following reports that two Election Commissioners repeatedly objected to unauthorized decisions made during West Bengal's electoral roll revisions.
Hours after a media report revealed deep internal rifts in the Election Commission of India, the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress on Wednesday demanded the revival of its earlier impeachment motion against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, accusing him of undermining the poll body's independence.
Rajya Sabha MP and senior TMC leader Derek O'Brien said the party would press to bring out the motion previously submitted by more than 60 Rajya Sabha MPs seeking Kumar's removal. "Five months ago, 60 Rajya Sabha MPs (50 needed) wrote to Chairman RS moving Motion to remove CEC Gyanesh Kumar," O'Brien posted on X. Referring to the latest disclosures, he added: "After big news break today that two Election Commissioners objected to many of CEC's actions, it's time to bring out the RS Motion today. Impeach CEC to save democracy."
The trigger for this fresh push was an Indian Express report claiming that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally recorded objections at least 14 times over the past 10 months to key decisions linked to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The two commissioners allegedly said major orders on voter additions, deletions, restorations and form changes were issued without their knowledge, with some branded "unauthorised and illegal."
One of the sharpest points of internal disagreement centred on appeals arising from the SIR exercise in West Bengal. After the Supreme Court directed judicial officers to decide on roughly 60 lakh "logical discrepancy" cases, appellate tribunals headed by retired High Court judges were set up. Of the nearly 38 lakh appeals filed, about 16.1 lakh challenged the inclusion of voters whom those judicial officers had already cleared.
In August, according to the Express report, Sandhu formally questioned who had authorised the filing of these appeals on behalf of the Election Commission and who had actually filed them. He recorded that neither he, Joshi, nor the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer had been informed of the basis or process — one of at least 14 objections raised by the two commissioners over ten months, spotlighting concerns over decisions taken without their knowledge and the centralisation of key actions within the Commission.
However, sources say all decisions of the Election Commission of India, including those on SIR, have been unanimous and taken with the approval of both Election Commissioners and the Chief Election Commissioner.
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The nationwide SIR exercise has already led to the deletion of crores of names and drawn sharp opposition criticism for alleged irregularities. In West Bengal specifically, the exercise deleted roughly 90.8 lakh voters — about 12% of the electorate — with deletions disproportionately concentrated in TMC strongholds and Muslim-majority seats. In 160 of the state's 294 constituencies, the number of deleted voters exceeded the eventual winning margin; of those 160 seats, the BJP won 105 against the TMC's 53 — a sharp reversal from 2021, when TMC had carried 140 of these same seats and the BJP just 20. TMC has pointed to this as evidence that SIR significantly amplified its 2026 defeat.
A fresh notice of motion, addressed to the Rajya Sabha Chairman, seeks an address to President Droupadi Murmu for Kumar's removal on grounds of "proved misbehaviour." It invokes Article 324(5) of the Constitution, related provisions of the 2023 Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, and the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968. The notice focuses on alleged acts and omissions by Kumar from March 15, 2026, onwards, and is backed by the required number of members under the applicable rules.
The earlier opposition motion, submitted in March by INDIA bloc MPs including a large TMC contingent, had been rejected in April by the Rajya Sabha Chairman and Lok Sabha Speaker without stated reasons. That notice had alleged partisan conduct, obstruction of probes into electoral issues, and mass disenfranchisement tied to the SIR process.
