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Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday demanded removal of the legal safeguards provided to the Election Commissioner, alleging that such protections were "instituted by this government."
"The legal safeguards provided to the Election Commissioner, which were instituted by this government, protect him no matter what he does. Those safeguards need to be removed if anybody is committing illegal acts against this nation; they need to be tried for the criminal actions that they are involved in," she told reporters in Malappuram. She also demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. "If the Election Commission has been aiding and abetting the BJP to rig elections, naturally they are going to try to justify it. You have seen their overconfident statements before every election, predicting the exact number of seats that they're going to get... The people of India are not that happy with them... So what you hear on the ground from people is something, and what you're seeing as the election result is something else? The immediate demand Rahul Gandhi made is that Gyanesh Kumar should resign... The INDIA alliance is very clear. Every single leader of the alliance, every single party, is in full agreement that what is going on is absolutely illegal... Those who are doing it have to be taken to task; they have to be held responsible," Vadra further said. Priyanka Gandhi's remarks come amid mounting opposition criticism of the Election Commission after a report in The Indian Express said 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. The Election Commission of India (ECI) clarified its position on Saturday and said 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 issued after the meeting, 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. (ANI)
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