Opposition to move fresh notice for CEC’s removal; INDIA bloc mulls joint action

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. File | Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma Opposition parties will move a fresh notice seeking the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in both Houses of Parliament, even as a previous petition moved in the Rajya Sabha on April 24 is pending with Upper House Chairman C.P. Radhakrishnan.The Opposition is also gearing up for joint action on the issue and could soon call for a meeting under the banner of the INDIA bloc. A senior Opposition leader said that a dialogue is going on among like-minded parties to discuss the modalities.Election Commission row key highlights - September 24, 2026In view of the Cockroach Janta Party’s 48-hour ultimatum calling for Mr. Kumar’s resignation, the INDIA bloc is anxious not to be seen as latecomers on the issue. “The Opposition will certainly be moving, especially in light of the new revelations. Our earlier motion submitted on April 24, 2026, in the RS had nine specific charges. That motion is still pending. There will be more specific charges,” Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh said.The Trinamool Congress, which played a key role in the drafting of two previous petitions for Mr. Kumar’s removal, said a new petition should be moved at the earliest. “The TMC is very happy to play the role of a squirrel in the garden. The Opposition has to act unitedly and swiftly,” the party’s Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’Brien said.First motion in March dismissedIt was on March 12 that the Opposition first moved a notice seeking Mr. Kumar’s removal. This notice was signed by 63 Rajya Sabha MPs and 130 Lok Sabha MPs.It contained seven charges against the CEC, including that his appointment itself was “tainted, with the law governing his selection, the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, facing a challenge in the Supreme Court. The Opposition also claimed that Mr. Kumar’s previous postings reflected “deep executive embeddedness”.This notice was dismissed by the presiding officers of both Houses on April 7.April notice still pending in Rajya SabhaOn April 24, the Opposition again moved a notice in the Rajya Sabha, signed by 73 Opposition members, this time with nine charges. The Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi had not signed this notice.The 13-page notice moved in April made several allegations: the EC’s “asymmetrical enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct”, citing the example of the EC ignoring a violation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who used the public broadcaster to denounce the Opposition in a recent address to the nation; the EC’s post on X directed against the Trinamool Congress ahead of polls in West Bengal; the poll body’s “institutional proximity” to the BJP, underlining an incident from Kerala where an official election document reportedly carried the seal of a BJP State unit; a spat between Mr. Kumar and a TMC delegation during a recent meeting at the EC headquarters in Delhi; “mass disenfranchisement” in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, and the ignoring of complaints filed by Opposition parties; and the “illegal abuse” of power through the transfer and posting of bureaucrats in Tamil Nadu, among other issues. Published - September 24, 2026 08:58 pm IST