NEW DELHI: The Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) on Thursday called for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke accused the CEC of undermining democracy amid the ongoing controversy over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.Addressing a press conference in Delhi, Dipke said, “Chief Election Commissioner is the biggest anti-national. Gyanesh Kumar is the biggest anti-national of this country. He should resign immediately because he is the biggest threat to India’s democracy.”Dipke also questioned the role of the Election Commission in determining who can vote, saying, “What did democracy mean in our country? Democracy meant that the people would elect the government. Since Gyanesh Kumar became the Chief Election Commissioner, the government has been deciding who will be allowed to vote and who will not. Is this democracy? What kind of definition of democracy is this? You have turned the entire concept of democracy upside down.”The remarks come amid a wider political controversy over the functioning of the Election Commission and the SIR exercise. The Congress Working Committee is scheduled to meet in New Delhi on September 29 to discuss the issue and the current political situation.The controversy intensified following a report by The Indian Express that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections at least 14 times over 10 months regarding decisions and orders linked to electoral-roll procedures and SIR.
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The Election Commission has maintained that differences during internal deliberations are part of the normal functioning of a multi-member constitutional body and said all final decisions, including those concerning SIR, were taken unanimously.Former Chief Election Commissioner Om Prakash Rawat, meanwhile, said decisions in the poll panel must be reached through consensus or majority.“However, when a decision is made, it must be by consensus or by a majority vote,” Rawat told ANI.
