Left parties demand CEC’s removal, announce week-long protest against SIR

Five Left parties issued a joint statement demanding the ouster of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and a halt to the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The parties also announced a week-long protest to be held across the country from September 26 to October 2 on the issue.

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The statement comes after reports that many of the “collective decisions” of the Election Commission of India (ECI) were in fact taken by the CEC alone, without keeping the two Election Commissioners in the loop. The Commissioners, according to the reports, have objected to several decisions endorsed by Mr. Kumar, including the centralisation of the electoral rolls database.

Joint demand

The five Left parties — the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, Revolutionary Socialist Party, and the All India Forward Bloc — signed the joint statement. It was issued after an impromptu meeting between CPI(M) general secretary M.A. Baby, CPI general secretary D. Raja, and CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya at the CPI(M)’s headquarters, AKG Bhawan, in Delhi.

The parties have demanded not only that the CEC be removed from office, but also that the SIR be halted and that voting rights be restored to all those who have been wrongfully excluded from the electoral rolls. The parties also demanded that the Election Commission’s “independent and democratic functioning” be reinstated and that the present system of appointment of Election Commissioners be replaced with a mechanism based on the Supreme Court’s proposed selection committee comprising the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and the Chief Justice of India.

Public confidence in polls undermined

The statement said the latest expose confirms concerns repeatedly raised by Opposition parties and civil society organisations and expose the hollowness of claims that the SIR and electoral roll management process are transparent and decentralised.

The issue, the Left parties said, goes far beyond the SIR. “It concerns the transparency and democratic functioning of the ECI and the protection of the fundamental democratic principle of universal adult franchise. Any system that makes the right to vote dependent on opaque, centrally controlled processes undermines public confidence in the electoral system,” the statement said.