New Delhi, Sep 25 Wearing masks bearing Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s face and with their hands bound in chains, Indian Youth Congress workers on Friday protested against the Election Commission, demanding Kumar’s resignation over alleged differences among the poll panel’s top officers on key electoral decisions.
The protesters raised slogans and displayed posters and banners demanding accountability from Kumar as they marched from the IYC office on Raisina Road towards the Election Commission headquarters.
IYC president Uday Bhanu Chib led the demonstration, with the youth wing announcing that it would gherao the Election Commission office as part of its protest.
Police and paramilitary personnel were deployed along the route, with barricades put up and detention buses stationed in the area.
The protest came a day after the IYC launched an online petition demanding Kumar’s removal, following an Indian Express report on objections reportedly raised by Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi over electoral-roll-related decisions.
The report said the two commissioners had recorded objections on at least 14 occasions over the past 10 months on issues concerning voter additions and deletions, changes to Form 6 used for new voter registration and the centralisation of electoral-roll systems.
The Congress’ youth wing called for Kumar’s arrest and prosecution, a comprehensive investigation into the electoral process and electoral rolls, and the public release of electoral records and internal objections of the poll panel.
“We are protesting because the Election Commission is responsible for protecting the sanctity of every vote. When questions are being raised within the commission itself over decisions concerning electoral rolls, the country deserves answers and accountability,” Chib said.
He said the protest aims to take the issue beyond the Congress’ political campaign and draw public attention to what the IYC described as concerns over transparency in the poll panel’s functioning.
“Young people cannot remain silent when there are questions over the electoral process. We demand that the CEC take responsibility and resign, and that the objections raised within the commission be made public,” Chib said.
(PTI News)
