October 6, 2026
What is the controversy surrounding India’s Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar?
Over the last week, mass protests against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar have been launched by India’s opposition parties and also the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) youth-led movement.
The outcry comes after The Indian Express newspaper last month reported divisions in India’s poll body over the revision of voter lists.
Kumar heads the three-member Election Commission which is overseeing the voter roll revisions.
The Indian Express reported that two of his fellow election commissioners raised at least 14 formal objections over 10 months regarding voter registrations, deletions and restorations, as well as control of electoral roll data, but those concerns were not taken into consideration.
Concerns emerged over the Election Commission’s neutrality following the report.
Opposition leaders and critics say that those struck off the lists in the voter roll revisions include a huge number of minority voters.
They have accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP of using the exercise as a tool to secure future electoral gains, questioning the body’s independence.
“The election commission is a puppet in the hands of the government. We are fighting to save our democracy,” Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, told the media ahead of the opposition march on Tuesday.
The Election Commission of India rejects allegations of wrongdoing and says the exercise removes deceased, relocated and duplicate voters and also prevents the inclusion of “foreign illegal immigrants.”
Kumar became the CEC in 2025 after being chosen by a selection panel led by Modi.
Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, who was also a part of the panel, had opposed Kumar’s appointment.
On Monday, India’s top court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, the Modi government, Kumar and the other two election commissioners, seeking their response to a batch of petitions against the CEC over the alleged irregularities in the revision of electoral rolls.
If “there are decisions against the law … We will take care of it,” the Supreme Court said.
Source: www.dw.com
