Opposition likely to move notice for CEC removal

NEW DELHI: The joint opposition is likely to move a notice for the removal of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar soon after Lok Sabha disposes off the "removal notice" against Speaker Om Birla, latest by Wednesday. The notice against the CEC may be moved in Rajya Sabha.

Sources said TMC raised the demand in the customary strategy session of the opposition INDIA bloc held in the office of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday when the budget session resumed after a break.




TMC MP Shatabdi Roy is learnt to have impressed upon the gathering the growing problems with the Special Intensive Review of electoral rolls in election-bound West Bengal. She is said to have referred to the need to follow up on TMC's demand on the CEC. Sources said the opposition parties are on board and a notice will be filed soon.

The consensus is significant as TMC has been demanding a removal notice against CEC Kumar for a few months, even though its urgent plea failed to secure an immediate nod from other allies. Interestingly, TMC did not sign the "removal notice" that the joint opposition moved against Speaker Birla towards the end of the first half of the budget session in Feb.

TOI had on Feb 14 reported the opposition will move the notice against the CEC upon the resumption of Parliament. The sudden convergence between TMC and the rest of the INDIA bloc was on evidence on Sunday when the Bengal outfit announced that it will support the no-confidence against the Speaker, despite not signing the "removal notice".

The back-to-back no-confidence motions against two constitutional authorities are likely to complicate the already fraught relations between the opposition and the governing BJP-led NDA, and may make the differences between the rival camps irreconcilable. Also, NDA has the majority in the two houses which makes the opposition’s moves a non-starter.

However, opposition strategists argue they may not have the numbers to carry the removal notices, but the debates in Parliament will put before the country their grievances of “injustice to the opposition in the Parliament” and the “purge of electoral rolls”.

The push for the CEC’s removal coincides with the launch of a strong TMC offensive against SIR in Bengal, with CM and party supremo Mamata Banerjee leading protests. The issue has wide support among the opposition parties, with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi having made “vote chori” an issue, and with Samajwadi Party too questioning the revision of rolls in Uttar Pradesh.
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