Congress stages protest in Kalaburagi demanding CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation

The Kalaburagi district unit of the Congress on Monday staged a protest outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office here, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, alleging that the Election Commission of India (ECI) was functioning with clear political bias.

The protest was led by District Congress Committee president Kiran Deshmukh and MLC Thippannappa Kamaknoor. Congress workers raised slogans against Mr. Kumar and burnt his effigy during the demonstration.

Addressing the protesters, Mr. Deshmukh and Mr. Kamaknoor said the ECI, being a constitutional institution, was expected to discharge its responsibilities independently and impartially, but Mr. Kumar was functioning in a partisan manner and accused him of acting like a political party worker, thereby undermining the stature of the office of the CEC, they claimed.

Mr Kamaknoor expressed that the ECI’s allegiance should be to the Constitution and not to the interests or directions of the Union government. He alleged that decisions taken under Mr. Kumar’s leadership were affecting the democratic process and helping the BJP’s electoral prospects.

Protestors alleged that the BJP has hijacked the election process and are winning elections by misusing the ECI and deleting voters’ names from electoral rolls. “Those who do not vote for the BJP are being removed through the SIR process,” they added.

The Congress leaders also alleged that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls was being used to remove the names of voters belonging to Muslim, Christian, OBC and SC/ST communities.

KUDA chairman Mazhar Alam Khan, MLC Jagdev Guttedar, Kalaburagi District-Level Guarantee Schemes Implementation Authority chairperson Chandrika Parameshwar, District Congress Women’s Unit president Renuka Singhe and other Congress leaders and party workers took part in the protest.