Congress MP Tharoor urges CEC Gyanesh Kumar to resign over SIR irregularities
· India · India Today, Al Jazeera
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said the government granted Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar legal immunity through a 2023 law, stating the Opposition is preparing articles of impeachment. Tharoor linked the demand to alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, urging the exercise be suspended and unlawfully deleted voters restored. He claimed the immunity law was passed during Parliament's Winter Session after the entire Opposition had been expelled from the House. Tharoor urged Kumar to resign on moral grounds, questioning how the CEC could conduct credible elections when Opposition parties had lost faith in him. Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023, bars courts from entertaining civil or criminal proceedings against a serving or former CEC for acts connected with official duties.
Why it matters
The controversy affects the credibility of India's electoral process and raises concerns about the independence of the Election Commission amid Opposition allegations of bias.
Read the original report — India Today
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