Left Parties Question Election Commission’s Credibility and Functioning Following Recent Allegations Against CEC

New Delhi: Left parties CPI(M), CPI and CPI(ML) have questioned the credibility and functioning of the Election Commission of India. At a joint press conference, the parties said they were concerned about the transparency of the Election Commission’s functioning under Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

The development comes amid reports that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi recorded objections at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The objections reportedly concerned issues including voter deletions, additions and changes to Form 6.

The Left parties said the fact that two of the three Election Commissioners had expressed dissent repeatedly, and yet no discussions were held shows an authoritarian approach.

M A Baby, D Raja and Dipankar Bhattacharya said strong protests would be organised across the country against the Election Commission's functioning. The Left parties also demanded the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and an end to the SIR process.

They demanded that eligible voters who were excluded from the electoral rolls through the SIR be restored to the rolls. They also called for a committee comprising the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the Chief Justice of India to select Election Commissioners, in accordance with the Supreme Court's direction.

The Left parties said they would launch a series of protest programmes from September 26 to October 2.