CEC has lifelong immunity for helping Modi govt. steal elections: Rahul

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Wednesday (September 30, 2026) alleged that Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar has lifelong immunity from court proceedings because he helped the Narendra Modi government indulge in “vote chori” (theft).

“Q. Why is CEC Gyanesh Kumar the only Indian with lifelong blanket legal immunity? A. Because PM Modi uses him to steal elections,” Mr. Gandhi said in a post on X, shortly after the INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) bloc discussed the possibility of challenging the law that gives immunity to the CEC and the other two Election Commissioners (ECs).

At the INDIA bloc meeting, former Law Minister and jurist Kapil Sibal suggested that the Opposition should challenge the 2023 law that gives the CEC and the two ECs immunity from criminal and civil proceedings.

Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, protects both the CEC and the ECs. A court cannot entertain or continue civil or criminal proceedings against them for an act done in the discharge of their official duty or function.

While the INDIA bloc is now exploring ways to challenge the law, at Tuesday’s Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, senior advocate and CWC member Abhishek Singhvi argued that court appeals often delayed matters.

If a legal challenge by the Opposition was not upheld by the higher courts, the issue would not only appear as a setback but also legitimise the law, Mr. Singhvi is said to have argued.

Several CWC members discussed other ways of building resistance to the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls across States, amid questions over the process of adding and deleting names.

Mr. Singhvi argued that non-political actors could help mobilise public support and cited the Cockroach Janata Party-led anti-paper leak protests as an example. He said the protests were effective in mobilising people and had also forced Dharmendra Pradhan to resign as Education Minister.

However, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Anand Sharma argued that the Congress should take the lead, with other parties and movements joining it.

Another CWC member, Manish Tewari, said the Congress should mobilise every party worker and call them to Delhi to sit on an indefinite dharna, much like the Punjab farmers did during their opposition to the three farm laws, which were later repealed.

Several Congress leaders argued that the party now needed to move beyond courtroom technicalities and work with people who had lost their right to vote, turning the issue into a people’s movement against the SIR.