Stalin Demands CEC Gyanesh Kumar's Exit, Halt to SIR After EC Rift Revelations

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president and former Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin has demanded the immediate removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and a halt to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, after disclosures that two of the Election Commission's three members recorded objections on multiple occasions to decisions taken without their knowledge.

In a Facebook post, Stalin said the two Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, were kept unaware of key decisions within the institution they jointly oversee, and that their objections were set aside on as many as 14 occasions over ten months. He said the developments had cast doubt on the credibility of every Assembly election held after the SIR exercise.

Stalin argued that the Commission is a three-member body whose business should, as far as possible, be conducted unanimously, with differences resolved by majority view. If two of its three members were themselves uninformed about actions taken in the Commission's name, he said, the matter cannot be treated as merely internal or procedural, calling it a grave assault on Indian democracy.

He also raised questions about the electoral roll process, asking who authorised and filed appeals against the inclusion of voters even after courts had ordered their names to be added. He noted that Electoral Registration Officers are empowered by law to scrutinise and revise rolls, yet were unable to add even those found eligible to vote, and claimed that ERONet, the digital platform for such changes, was entirely under the control of one person.

Stalin recalled that the DMK, along with other Opposition parties, had moved an impeachment motion against the Chief Election Commissioner in March. He said Gyanesh Kumar has no right to continue in office and must go immediately, that the SIR exercise must be halted, and that the DMK is demanding a fair and thorough investigation into everything that has transpired within the Election Commission, with those responsible held accountable.

The Election Commission has acknowledged the written notes, observations, technical suggestions and internal checks-and-balances referred to in the disclosures, describing them as part of its decision-making process. It did not respond to the specific concerns raised by the two Commissioners.