Story perspectives

Opposition moves to remove Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar

By Drooid · Sep 24, 2026, 4:53 PM UTC · How we work

Summary

Opposition Moves Removal

Opposition parties will move a motion in both houses to remove Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
VCK president and Lok Sabha MP Thol. Thirumavalavan urged President Droupadi Murmu to seek Kumar’s resignation.
Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi recorded 14 objections over the past 10 months.
Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan said the allegations failed the prima facie misbehaviour test, warning independence could be undermined.

Summary

Shivakumar Warns Voter Deletion

Karnataka’s Special Intensive Revision flagged 1.08 crore voters as absent, shifted, dead, duplicate, or others.
Notices were issued to 43.81 lakh voters from the 4.46 crore draft rolls.
Around 1.5 crore Karnataka voters risk deletion without submitting claims.
The state introduced permanent residence certificates to aid voter enrolment under ECI guidelines.
Shivakumar warned the SIR process could disenfranchise illiterate and socio-economically disadvantaged citizens.

History

Historical Context

India’s current push to tighten voter rolls mirrors a long tradition of electoral reform, such as Britain’s 1918 act that swelled the electorate to 21.4 million voters and the 1990 act that introduced clearer absentee-vote rules. Periodic updates like these aim to improve roll accuracy, a concern echoed in today’s challenges to the Election Commission.

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Opposition Moves Removal

Opposition parties will move a motion in both houses to remove Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
VCK president and Lok Sabha MP Thol. Thirumavalavan urged President Droupadi Murmu to seek Kumar’s resignation.
Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi recorded 14 objections over the past 10 months.
Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan said the allegations failed the prima facie misbehaviour test, warning independence could be undermined.

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