Hooghly (West Bengal) [India], September 26 (ANI): The row over the Election Commission's functioning intensified on Saturday, with Left leaders and the Trinamool Congress pushing for a united Opposition front against CEC Gyanesh Kumar.
Amid this push for a unified Opposition front, former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee addressed a rally in Hooghly, where she renewed her demand for the CEC's ouster, referring to him as "Vanish Kumar."
"Vanish Kumar must go. Until he leaves, our movement continues and will continue. Those who are guilty must be arrested. You have no right to disenfranchise voters, to loot votes. You have taken Bengal; we will take Delhi... I have doubts if this govt will survive till 2029. This SIR list must be scrapped. The vote must be held using the old list. And those whose names were forcibly removed must be compensated," she said.
Banerjee alleged the SIR exercise had been used to specifically target West Bengal.
"Why was SIR conducted? It was forced upon us solely to capture Bengal, as they couldn't win otherwise. Under the guise of SIR, the names of 92 lakh people were struck off. We were the first party to raise this issue...initially, about 70 lakh names were removed through the SIR process. We went to court and managed to get 32 lakh reinstated. Yet, 27 lakh names remained excluded... You removed the names of 92 lakh people in Bengal alone. And across the country, nearly 13 crore people have fallen victim to this SIR process," she said.
CPI(M) General Secretary MA Baby called for a wider outreach against CEC Gyanesh Kumar, reaching out to parties outside the INDIA bloc, after Minister Mamata Banerjee backed the initiative to unite political parties against him.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader added that the party has reached out to the Trinamool Congress (TMC), stating that Mamata Banerjee "responded instantly." The CPI(M) also wrote to the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) to build a broader movement against what MA Baby termed the "unilateral" approach of the Election Commission and to demand accountability over issues linked to electoral processes.
Rivals on the political battlefield of West Bengal for decades, the TMC and the CPI(M) have opened communication channels. MA Baby informed that Mamata Banerjee spoke to him over the phone a day earlier and supported the initiative to bring political parties together.
"Yesterday Mamata Banerjee telephoned me, so we spoke. We knew each other because when she was in the Lok Sabha, I was in the Rajya Sabha. So we used to meet in the central hall and various other. She was in the Youth Congress, I was in DYFI during the same time," he said.
CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said that the INDIA bloc meeting is expected on September 30 to discuss the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise and the Election Commission's functioning, and urged that it not be restricted to bloc partners alone.
As it happened, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi levelled another allegation against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, accusing him of "match-fixing elections", citing a Malayalam news channel report which said that the CEC had approached former Keralam Chief Secretary Jiji Thomson to contest for the BJP in 2026.
Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar took a sharp line, demanding Gyanesh Kumar's removal from service. "The Chief Election Officer should be arrested and dismissed immediately. There should be a re-verification," he said.
The row began with a report in The Indian Express that claimed that decisions regarding the SIR process were objected to by two of the three Election Commissioners. The report stated that Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections multiple times over decisions and orders issued without their knowledge.
Opposition parties, including the Congress, CPI, CPI(M), TMC and Shiv Sena (UBT), have called for Gyanesh Kumar's resignation following the report.
The Election Commission of India (ECI), for its part, has clarified its position, saying all decisions related to the schedule of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls were taken with the "unanimous approval of the Commission".
The EC further stated that a letter sent to the Cabinet Secretary was related to the functioning of an officer on deputation and not any policy matter of the poll body.
In its press note, the ECI stated that the schedule for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in 12 States and Union Territories was issued on October 27, 2025, while the schedule for 19 States and UTs was issued on May 14, 2026, with the unanimous approval of the Commission.
The poll body also added that the order for the SIR issued on June 24, 2025, covering all States and UTs, beginning with Bihar, followed by West Bengal and 30 other States and UTs, was approved unanimously by the Commission.
The ECI also clarified that a letter sent to the Cabinet Secretary, which had drawn scrutiny, was related to the functioning of an officer on deputation to the poll body and not to any policy matter. (ANI)
Opposition unity builds around ECI row as rivals TMC-CPI(M) call for wider outreach; poll body maintains "SIR decisions unanimous"
